


The other one

by marvelSPhaNdom



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Garrison stuff, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Langst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Canon, Post-Season 5, Slow Burn, Supportive Keith (Voltron), Supportive Lance (Voltron), klance centric, picks up right after season 5, training together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-04-25 01:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 52
Words: 163,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14367996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelSPhaNdom/pseuds/marvelSPhaNdom
Summary: The story of how Keith went from beingthe other oneto beingthe onefor Lance. Yes, Lance is SHOOKETH more than any one else. What do you mean Keith is histhe one?!That's just not possible! The mullet?How?He does have pretty eyes, though. And that smile is definitely something. He is kinda sweet, and adorable, too, and badass. Not to mention that ass looks out of this world in that Marmora suit ... wait,Wasn't Lance going somewhere with this. He had a point, didn't he? What was it again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case someone didn't notice, I got the title from that time Lance called Keith ‘the other one’ in the comics.
> 
> Me: *continues to ignore the pile of unfinished fics I have by starting a new one.
> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
>   _“Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring.”_
> 
>  
> 
> \- Margaret Atwood  
> 

With a swing of his sword Lance sliced the remaining drones to pieces. He deactivated the bayard, walking to the corner to pick up the water bottle, allowing the cool water to calm the blood rush. Finally satisfied with the way he'd finished the training level he decided that was it for the day. Besides, he had another place to be.

 Using the towel to dry his face he made his way down the castle halls. _Jesus, I need a shower_. Really, the stench was horrible. He made a turn and ...

 Walked into someone's face, or someone walked into his, dropping what was in their hand.

  _“Lance!”_

Oh, just who he was looking for. Laughing at the startled squeak Allura had made, Lance bent down to pick up the tablet that had fallen out of her hands. “Hey, princess, I can see you're finally _falling for me_.” He pointed fingerguns at her as he handed her the tablet.

 Allura gave him her famous _‘Really, Lance?!’_ look, which didn't have the fear inducing effect it used to have on him, at this point he just considered it a fond gesture from her.

 “Don't you have training?” She asked as they began walking.

 “I've been training, since this morning!”

 Allura leaned in towards him, immediately drawing back, wrinkling her nose, “Yes, I can tell.”

  _Uh, rude!_ “Hey! I'd like to see how nice _you_ would smell after eight hours of intense training!” he crossed his arms over his chest, giving her a look.

  _“Please,_ I always smell nice,” Allura said in a rather conceited voice.

Nevertheless, it wasn't untrue. “True,” he admitted, “still not gonna share the magic-alien-shampoo-recipe you use, with me?” he tried to give her the best puppy-dog eyes he could.

 “Hmm,” she made a considering face, before raising an eyebrow, smirking, “you know what? I'll come see how much you've improved with the broadsword tomorrow and who knows? I just might.”

 Lance pumped his fist in the air, “Yes.” He'd been trying to get her to let him use some of that thing for ages now. Seriously, the shampoo thingy—was it really shampoo? _I mean it glows!—_ smelled like flowers and sunlight, he wanted his hands on it.

 “And prepare to be swept off your feet, milady, cause I _freaking_ own that sword now,” Lance said with a little too much enthusiasm.  
But he couldn't help it; he was really excited about how much he'd improved with the sword.

 When his bayard had first changed into the broadsword, it had been frustrating. Don't get him wrong; it was an honour, a true honour to share the same sword with Allura's father, the altean king. After all he'd heard from both Coran and Allura about King Alfor, Lance could only hope to grow into a man like that. But he'd spend months working with the blasters and the riffle, trying to improve his skills and he'd become pretty good at it. He was quite proud of his targeting skills and then suddenly he'd been back at point zero with a sword.

 Lance had thanked every god he knew of when he realised he could still switch between the sword and his guns. Still, if the bayard had changed form, it had to have happened for a reason, so he'd tried to work the sword. To say the least, it had been discouraging; He knew _nothing_ about close combat. But he'd trained non-stop since then to change that. Sure, he was no Keith—Lance ignored the small pang he felt in his chest at the name, the hot-headed mullet hadn't been to the castle for so long—but he'd improved so much.

 It had taken many hours in the training room, which he would never admit to but he actually had started to enjoy spending time there. It was in a weird way, that made no sense to Lance himself, _peaceful._ And it also allowed him to let out some steam. With all the time and effort he put into training, he'd managed to grow semi-decent with the sword in the short two month he'd had with it.

 Even if Shiro didn't think so.

 _You know he has a lot on his mind_. Lance immediately scolded himself. Shiro had more important things to do than to care when someone in the team was playing around with their bayard.

 “Doubtful,” Allura said.

 Lance stuck his tongue out at her, _“Anyway,_ I was looking for you.”

 “Oh?”

 “Yeah, I wanted to ask how you're doing.”

 Just as Lance finished his sentence Allura groaned, “I'm _fine,_ Lance, just like I was fine the hundred other times you've asked me the same question this movement. And then all times you also asked me at the so called _girls’ night_ you arranged,” she gave him a half-glare, “But at least one good thing came out of that.” She pointed to her hair.

 Lance had braided it for her, like he used to do so all the time for her sister. He'd even added some small flower pins in there. Lance felt a smile take over his face, Veronica would be so proud of him. The result looked pretty good, and clearly Allura thought so too, considering she hadn't changed it the last two days. A few strands of silver-white hair had managed to escape the ties here and there, but it was mostly intact.

 “Yeah,” he agreed.

 Allura took the end of the braid in between fingers, looking at her hair in awe, “Who knew you could actually do something right?”

 “Hey!”

 Allura laughed, “I'm just joking.” 

 “Still, I wanna make sure you're okay. Since, you know, Lotor just left—”

 “You're not gonna pretend you're upset about that, are you?” Allura narrowed her eyes at him.

 Lance huffed, “Forgive the language, but _fuck_ no! You know I don't like the guy.”

 Allura rolled her eyes, “Yes, you've mentioned that once or twice ... or a _couple million times._ ”

 Lance shrugged laughing, “What can I say? I just _don't,_ but I know you guys were ... close.”

 Yeah, _‘close’_ was one word for it. They so clearly were much more than that but they haven't said anything to the team, and Lance didn't want to cross any boundaries by indicating more than that.

 Specially since he was really happy about what his and Allura's relationship had turned into. The respect and the friendship he now had from Allura was worth more to him than any possible romantic relationship he could ever have with her. Which was very clear now would never happen. And Lance was okay with that, it's not like he's been _in love_ with her or something, just some casual flirting for fun, which he could easily avert to other numerous pretty aliens they met on their missions. Having her as a friend was actually much more fun.

 The _real_ reason the relationship bothered him was how much he didn't trust Lotor. _Seriously, that guy is shady as hell!_ How could no one else see that?

 But even if he didn't like Lotor, not even a little, he knew Allura had been down ever since Lotor had left the ship to deal with the Empire. And not surprisingly, her having no idea how to access _the secret of life and Voltron_ that _the light of her ancestors_ had told her she had within her wasn't helping. Really, the altean magic mumbo jumbo was a little above Lance's paygrade. His entire knowledge of Alchemy came from him watching ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ and he was sure not much of that old show applied to this.

 But, what he _did_ know was that Allura was feeling exasperated and upset.

 Allura smiled at him, “I'm fine, Lance, really,” she reassured.

 “Okay, just checking,” he smiled back.

 They were walking around the corner from the lounge when they heard Hunk and Pidge's voice arguing about something;

 “Come on, this thing has been buzzing forever, go get Allura.”

 “Hunk, do you know how _long_ it took me to warm up this cushion to the perfect degree? I'm not just leaving.”

 “Well, I just spent two hours baking cookies _you_ asked for! Can't I get some appreciation?!”

 They stopped as Lance and Allura walked in.

“Oh, good you're here.his thing won't stop ringing,” Pidge said throwing the castle communicator to Allura.

 Lance slumped into the seat next to Hunk, resting his arms on the backrest.

 Hunk put a small space between, making a face, “Dude, you need a bath, like _right_ now.”

  _Seriously?!_ Lance groaned as Allura made a not-so-subtle snort at Hunk's comment, “Come on! one time I don't go straight to shower and you all have to throw it to my face?!” he pouted. He was actually very attentive about his hygiene—his ma used to complain about how he was always in the shower—and with all the body washes, Coran had given him a secret stash, he used he knew he always smelled nice. No one ever mentioned _that!_ But the one time he didn't and they all had to comment on it. Which wasn't _fair,_ he was on his way to the shower. He just needed a few minutes to rest, his muscles were on the verge of spasming.

 Seriously, long range takes much less effort.

 “Anyway, how long have your lazy asses been arguing on _who_ should get Allura, instead of actually doing it?” he asked.

 “Pfft, less than a minute.”

 Even if Pidge hadn't answered that way too quickly, Lance still knew his friends better than that. He raised a doubtful eyebrow, _“Right.”_

 “Hey, I'm not getting sassed about laziness from the guy who once forced me to walk half the campus to pick _his_ things because his legs couldn't tolerate this kind of and I quote _‘Slavery’,”_ Hunk glared at him, or at least tried to.

 Lance smirked, “Ah, _yes,_ the good old days of garrison, before a certain gremlin showed up and ruined all our time with talking about science theories and programming.”

 Pidge gave him a look from over her glasses, “Not like you guys were doing anything profound before that. All _you_  ever wanted to do was hit the town and meet some pretty girls.”

 “Hey, that's not _true,”_ he grinned, wriggling his eyes, “I wanted to meet pretty guys too.”

 Well, technically that wasn't true either. He didn't have his bi epiphany till after they had been sent to space ... Actually, he maybe started noticing things in garrison.

 Lance shook his head, clearing the thoughts just as Allura said, “It's a call from the Blade.”

 Whining internally Lance stood up, every part of his body protesting the action. He really had went overboard this time, hadn't he? He should get that bath later, after the call, or he will get cramps all over tomorrow. “I'll go get Shiro.”

“Wait,” He was stopped by Allura's voice, “it's for you.”

 “Uh, what?” Lance questioned.

 Allura pointed to the holographic screen. The words were written in altean, Coran refused to let Pidge change the language to English, with them being the last alteans he wanted to keep the language alive, and even if Lance wasn't pretty fluent in altean by now, which he was, those were pretty simple words to read: _For Lance_.

 “Since when do we get personalized calls from them?” Pidge asked.

 That actually was a good question and also, why would anyone from there want to talk to Lance? “Maybe it was meant for Shiro, and one of the Marmorites really messed up our names?” Lance offered.

 “Or maybe Kolivan finally found out about all the bullshit you've been feeding him about earth's _‘warriors’”_ Pidge air quoted.

 Lance did _not_ gulped, okay maybe he gulped a little. As much as he could get along with Kolivan and considered him surprisingly a rather cool dude, once one got over his expressionless demeanour, he was sure the man did not react well to jokes. Specially if he knew he'd been on the receiving end of it for months. But to be honest, Lance didn't really regret it, there was just something too entertaining about watching a well known spy and head of the Blade hold the piece sign thinking it was actually a warrior's cursing gesture. And that was probably the least of the funny lies Lance had fed him.

 “Let's be practical here, if he'd found out I would be getting assassinated right now, not getting a call.” He pointed out, _hopefully._

 “Maybe it's a prank?” Hunk said.

 “What? Those Marmora guys can be funny too, Keith became so much funnier when he turned galra.” He explained upon everyone looking at him.

 “Hunk,” Lance gave him a reproachful look, “he didn't _turn_ galra. He always _was_ galra.”

 Hunk groaned, “Okay, don't start getting overprotective again.”

 Lance was about to protest that he wasn't being overprotective and that Hunk's eye-roll was pretty unfair; he just didn't think it was nice to talk about it when Keith wasn't there. Specially about something that mattered so much to Keith. but his train of thoughts was interrupted by Pidge.

 “Matt keeps doing that. He keeps pranking me with stupid calls. His goose is gonna be so cooked next time he's back from the rebel base, they're gonna dedicate a new thanksgiving to him,” the words might've been funny but Pidge's voice was threatening enough that nobody dared to smile, let alone laugh. Really, it was aspiring how such a tiny person could induce so much fear.

 “Well, _whatever_ the case is, I'll redirect the call to your room.” Allura told him.

 Lance nodded in acknowledgement. “Later, guys.”

 “And save me some of those cookies,” he added walking out of the lounge.

 “Sure, buddy.” He heard Hunk's voice at the same time as Pidge's.

“I make _no_ promises.”

Lance increased his pace, he was pretty sure Pidge wasn't kidding. Nothing edible Hunk made stayed in this castle for more than a few hours.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>    _“No. I don't miss you ... Not in a way that one is missed. But I think of you. Sometimes. In the way that one might think of the summer sunshine on a winter night ...”_
> 
> \- Sreesha Divakaran

 Once in his room, Lance flumped down into his chair. Resting his feet up on the table, he picked up the tablet from it. He placed his hand under his chin, staring at the tablet on his legs, he awaited the call.

 Lance actually liked all the small changes he'd made to room, it made it feel more homey. Seriously, what Kind of heathen lived in a room that only had a bed in it and nothing else? The answer was obviously Keith. Keith was the heathen. Lance had only been to his room once but the guy hadn't added a single piece of furniture to the room. It was as empty as a desert, _huh,_   _actually that should probably make him feel at home._ Lance decided to laugh at the joke and not think about the real probable reason why Keith hadn't tried to personalize the room or to make it feel more cosy.

 Lance shook his head to get the downing thought out, instead he looked around his room. The few pictures from his family that Hunk had enlarged from the original ones he'd had in his wallet, rested on the nightstand next to the bed. A poster of an space band he had no idea who they were hung on the wall. Coran had once made him listen to one of their songs and Lance couldn't say he was a fan. That wasn't music, it sounded like someone had put a bunch of nails and screws in a tin can and was shaking it vigorously. Coran had said it was the best thing he'd heard in his life. Another proof the man was insane. Even after that Lance had refused to take the poster down; it looked cool, and the colouring was certainly needed with those grey walls.

 Really, as soon as Lance could get his hands on some blue paint those walls would be a goner. He had once found some in the castle, but they were turquoise, seriously what in this castle wasn't turquoise, and he'd painted star shapes on the ceiling, reminding him of the glow in the dark stickers he had back at home.

 A little farther from the poster, a few houseplants were hovering near the ceiling. He'd recently gotten those. They glowed in different colours of blue and violet, even a few small red ones. They were beautiful, and _okay,_ maybe a little freaky; they twinkled and beat with color at nights, but it calmed him when he looked at them in his sleepless times. Thankfully they were low maintenance and rarely needed him to water them; he would forget to and they would end up dead, otherwise. And even considering _that,_ and Hunk insisting on them being space cactuses, Lance _refused_ to called them that. When he was younger, He'd once run into one with his hands and half his face. Two hours of crying and his mom trying to take the spines out of his skin later and Lance had pursued a lifelong vendetta against the plant's entire family, and he still held on to that.

 A TV equivalent and his video games were seated in the corner. A pastel pink and white striped-rug lay on the floor. He'd even managed to find a beanbag at one of the earth shops at a space-mall at some point. Oh, what a great day that had been, even with Allura making it clear that he could not bring the other Kaltenecker to the castle. But Pidge had somehow managed to steal it from him. Lance suspected either Matt or Hunk had a hand in that gtb— _grand theft beanbag_ —too; there was just no way Pidge had moved that heavy thing on her _own._

 He jumped in his seat when Allura redirected the call, because she hadn't redirected it to his tablet like he expected, but to the wall ...

  _What the shit?_

 He didn't know their walls could turn into screens. Why the hell Coran hadn't told him about that? This would bring his playing experience to an _epic_ new level. All the movies he was gonna watch like this. Oh, and wait till he told Pidge!

 A buzzing sound brought him out of his thoughts and reminded him that whoever the poor sucker on the other side of the line was, they were still waiting. They were persistent, that was for sure.

 He tapped on the tablet to accept the call. Lance almost fell out of the chair when the feed opened up; one of the blades sat in the middle of the picture, that was expected what wasn't was that he knew that particular mask.

 “Took you long enough,” they said tapping on the side of the mask, making it disappear and confirming Lance's suspicion: it was Keith.

 ...

  _Yeah, no way in hell_ was that Keith.

 “Pfft, _really_ guys?! if you're gonna prank me at least don't say _so_ right before,” Lance shook his head.

  _‘Keith’_ stared at him for some time before finally questioning, “Uh, what?”

  _Whoa,_ Pidge had really topped herself this time. It looked so real. Lance leaned in, looking closer, “But I've gotta hand it to you, Pidgey, the graphics are amazing.”

 “It's Keith, not Pidge.”

 He even sounded like him. _“Sure.”_

  _‘Keith’'s_ face looked confused. _It looks so detailed!_ Pidge must've done some serious programing on this. _That_ was the exact same confused look Keith gave him sometimes. Everytime someone used a refrence he didn't get or said any other thing he didn't understand, Keith would look to Lance, and Lance would explain it without Keith needing to ask. Well, unless it was one of the times Hunk and Pidge were ranting something too _science-y,_ in which he would clarify he had no idea what was going on either. They never discussed it though, it was like a silent agreement between them. Okay, this stupid prank was starting to feel a little mean.

 “Cut it out, Pidge. This isn't funny.” He said, frowning and ignoring the small lump that wanted to form in his throat.

  _‘Keith’_ scowled, “What even are you talking about? I told you, it _is_ Keith.”

 “Okay _‘Keith’,”_ he mocked, “tell me why would _‘Keith’_ be calling me?” he air quoted both _‘Keith’s._

 _‘Keith’_ rolled his eyes.

 ‘ _Keith’ rolled his eyes_ ... _well shit._

 There was _no_ amount of technology, _no_ advance programs or _nothing_ in Pidge's science that could replicate _that_ eye roll. The eye roll that made Lance feel like he was the dumbest, most stupid person ever lived. _Oh no,_ that honour went to Keith, and Keith _alone,_ which meant that ...

 Lance sat up straight, feeling some kind of electricity going through him. _Holy shit, It is Keith!_

 “I don't know what I was thinking. This was a mistake,” Keith leaned forward clearly to end the call.

 “What happened?” Lance whispered, he refused to call it a _squeak,_ immediately. Because holy shit, it _was_ actually Keith, and he had actually wanted to talk to Lance for some reason, and Lance didn't want him to end the call.

 “What?” Keith looked up.

 Lance cleared his throat, trying to get his voice over the shock. “What happened?” he said, this time louder.

 “Why do you think something happened?” Keith sounded somewhere between suspicions and curious.

 Lance raised his eyebrow, “Keith, buddy, you haven't called us in ages and now you're suddenly calling ... me?”

 Keith frowned, at this point Lance considered that a semi-permanent part of his face, “I call you guys every week.”

 “No, _Kolivan_ calls the _castle_ about the missions, and you hang out in the background. _You_ don't call _us.”_ _You don't call me._

 Lance was actually a little, _a lot_ , sore about that. Keith had been a constant part of their life, _his life_ , for more than a year and then suddenly one day he'd just been gone. And, like _okay,_ that was his choice and Lance knew he was probably busy being badass, but couldn't he spare just five minutes every week for them? Was that _too_ much to ask?

 Keith didn't say anything so Lance continued, “So, _what_ happened?”

 “I, uh,” Keith looked down, avoiding Lance's eyes, shoulders slumped. Lance didn't like the little vulnerability in his posture. Sure, Keith was closed off a lot of times, but this felt different. Lance could tell it was important to him.

 Keith rubbed his eyes, sighing, “I ...” he trailed off again.

 “Those are precious moments of my very important time you're wasting,” Maybe a little teasing would make Keith feel more comfortable to say what was on his mind?

 “I found my mom.”

 For the third time in the last five minutes, Lance lost his balance in the chair. His feet fell to the floor from the top of the table.

  _“What?_ What do you mean you _found_ your mom? I thought your mom was on earth? Why's she in space? _How_ is she in space? ... _Wait,_ is she galra? What the hell, Keith? You said you remembered her? How could you not remember the small detail of her being _freaking purple,_ man?”

 The stream of questions escaped Lance non-stop till his brain managed to tell him to shut the fuck up.  _What the hell is wrong with you?_

 Keith had only ever _once_ mentioned his mom to Lance, never brought it up again so Lance hadn't either. But even in that time it had been clear what a touchy subject it was to Keith, it was clear how hurt he was by it. He must be feeling overwhelmed and confused enough on his own. _Try to make it better, not worse._

 Taking a breath in, Lance tried to collect himself and his thoughts. “I'm sorry, forget all the ... dumb shit I just said. Let's start this over,” he said looking at Keith, “okay, you found your mother. _How_ did you find her?”

 Lance could've sworn the corner of Keith's mouth had quirked upwards.

 “I didn't remember _her,_ just, the feeling of her, so _no,_ I didn't know she was _freaking purple_ ,” Keith answered Lance's stupid question with a hint of amusement. It vanished quickly as he swallowed visibly, “and I guess she found me.”

 Keith proceeded to tell him how he was sent on a mission to save _Krolia—_ _aw both their names starts with ‘K’ that's so sweet. They probably chose ‘Keith’ because of that ... focus Lance—_ and things had gone south. He'd known something was up when instead of abandoning him and saving the mission, she'd negotiated with them.

 Lance tried not to frown, at least not externally, at that. It didn't sit well with him that Keith considered _not abandoning him to his death_ an odd behaviour. Just like it hadn't sat well with him months ago when he'd overheard Matt and Shiro's conversation about Keith almost sacrificing himself if Lotor hadn't showed up. Just like all the other stories he'd heard since then about how Keith acted on missions didn't sit well with him. Yeah, Keith had always been reckless, head into fights without actually thinking. But this was different, this was him being too careless with his life, and that _certainly_ did not sit well with Lance.

 He tried to clear his head, that wasn't something to think about right now, and focus on Keith's story. Keith told him how she'd been able to use his blade and had told him after it was because it had been hers. Keith kept his story short. Leave it to that guy to not give any details even when something this important was involved. Lance almost shook his head smiling, the guy had an issue with talking anything more than two minutes.

 “So, you found your mom,” Lance said after a few moments of silence passed.

 “Yeah, I found my mom.”

 Lance tilted his head to try and make Keith look at him, but the other boy seemed adamant in looking at the corner. _This would be much easier if he was here_. That way Lance could give him a hug too, he really looked like he needed one. “And that's a good thing, right?”

 _“_ I ...” Keith sighed, “I don't know.” 

 “You, at least, talked to her, right Keith?” Lance asked, because honestly? he wouldn't put it past Keith to not do that. Keith was brave, really brave, he would probably run into a fight with a freaking dragon without a second thought, but put him in an emotional situation and he would run the other way faster than one could blink.

 Keith nodded, “Yeah, we talked a lot, and she’s amazing and kind and awesome, and she told my why she ... left me and I understand her reasons, I know how Blade works but it's just, I just ...” Keith trailed off, face scrunching up. He huffed, looking to the side unable to finish the sentence.

 And that was okay, Lance understood what he was trying to say; _it didn't change anything._

 _God_ , now he really wanted to give Keith that hug.

 “I think, I think I'm gonna ask Kolivan to send me back to the castle for a while. I want—”

 “You can't do that,” Lance cut in. As happy as he would've been to see Keith back at the castle, he couldn't let him do something _that_ dumb.

 “Why ... not?” Keith looked at him startled.

 “You can't just run away again, Keith.”

 “Wha—” Keith frowned, “I'm not runni–I don't _run away_!” upset purple eyes bore into him.

_Yeah, you do._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't tell me Lance wouldn't be upset about Keith just leaving! 
> 
> I know the chapters are really short, but this way I can post every few days.


	3. Chapter 3

  _Yeah, you do._

 Blue eyes found violet ones, finding so much more than just stubbornness there. Lance turned his voice more gentle, “Yeah, you do. And don't make me count all the times you've done that because I will, mullet.”

 Nothing stopped him from counting them mentally:

 Keith had done it at the garrison, when he'd lost Shiro, the first time around. _Leaving_ garrison, because there was no way he actually flunked out. Lance would know, he kept a very close eye on the other boy's grades and he was still the top of every class the day he vanished. Well, when he _dropped out_ but to Lance it was the same as vanishing, not like someone ever explain to them what had happened. 

 Keith did it again when he'd suspected he was galra. Running away instead of actually staying and telling them what was bothering him. 

 And then he did so it when Shiro had returned. Keith had left for the blade immediately after. Lance had spent a lot of time thinking about why Keith had done that and he'd narrowed it down to three reasons.

 The first one and to Lance’s regret, this one was his fault; going to Keith about stepping out. That had been a changing moment in their ... friendship. Keith felt quite different after that. Lance hadn't expected Keith to be so supportive, yes even if Keith had sucked at wording it. But that was Keith; he was awkward. What made it matter was that Lance could see Keith putting the effort in comforting Lance, him even going the extra length to make a joke. Even that on its own had warmed Lance's heart, he couldn't believe Keith had been willing to give up black because of him. Even if he wasn't the _main_ reason, the first time Keith refused to pilot black had been right after that and Lance wasn't dumb enough to consider that a coincidence.

 The second one, and this one was completely understandable, was that Keith probably wanted to know more about his galran heritage. Lance had seen how much he'd struggled with accepting that in the beginning. Not that the princess's reaction had been of any help. Allura was amazing and all but Lance still kinda got upset everytime he remembered how she had treated Keith back then. And with Keith not even knowing how he'd come in possession of the blade, it made sanse for him to want to know more. To _need_ to know more.

 The third reason was that Keith was clearly scared. From what Lance knew about Keith, and he probably knew more than anyone apart from Shiro, Keith hadn't had anyone but Shiro in his life for the longest time. And he kept losing the guy. So maybe he left because he didn't want to have more people to lose. Obviously all of them had been becoming important to him, and he clearly didn't want to get attached. He probably thought he couldn't afford to get attached. And Lance _hated_ that. He hated that Keith had run from them, hated that Keith had run from _him,_ from their friendship.

 It had taken so much for them to go from rivals to such a close friends. Admittedly for a long time, it had been Lance's fault, but after all they had been through, Lance knew that Keith had never actually to one up him or anything like that. It had taken so much for them to gain such a strong ... friendship, and maybe more? or at least a making of _more._ And Keith had just given up on that. That hurt, that hurt Lance a lot.

 Yet, He still couldn't bring himself to be too upset at Keith. Keith rarely ever shared anything about himself, but Lance knew his mother had abandoned him before he could remember, his father had done so when he was young, and then Shiro, even if not willingly, had done it not once but twice.  
Everyone in his life had left him, so he was allowed to be afraid to get attached. He was allowed to be afraid to care too much. He was allowed to have some walls. And maybe Lance couldn't tear out the old walls, but there was no way he was letting Keith build any new ones around him. There was no way he was letting Keith do this.

 “Keith, you gotta stay.” Lance said, determined.

 “Why?” Keith questioned, “I just want some time from her. She said she wouldn't leave me again, but she's just ... she's just everywhere, Lance,” Keith sighed, “I just want some time to think.” he paused, adding, “far away from her.”

 “And you're sure that's what this is? you sure you're not just trying to get back at her?” Lance asked, he picked on the not-very-well-hidden anger in Keith's voice.

 Keith's eyebrows furrowed together into an even more of a knot, “What? Why would I ...?”

 Lance kind of hated himself for what he had to say, “Because she abandoned you.”

 Keith just stared at him not saying anything. But Lance heard the small gasp, saw the way his jaw tightened. It was one thing for Keith to say it, it was another for Lance to say it. And god, Lance hated that he had to say more. Why was acting mature so hard? But Keith needed to hear it.

 Lance continued, “And like you said it doesn't matter how many reasons she gave you, it doesn't change the fact that she _did_ leave you and you had to live with that. And honestly, I don't think _any_ reason is good enough to justify her leaving you, Keith,” Keith deserved more than that, Keith deserved much more than that, “and I know I can't possibly understand what you went through or how you felt all this time but she's your _mom,_ she should have been there. Instead you had to deal with her abandoning you, for all your life. No one's gonna blame you if you hate her a little, Keith,” Lance gave him a small understanding smile, “she didn't stick around long enough to even give you a chance. So maybe you’re returning the favour, not giving her a chance?”

 Keith held his gaze for so long before leaning back in his seat. He closed his eyes, “I-I don't know?” he sighed, “maybe? I guess.”

  _Fuck,_ that settled it. It didn't matter if it was next week or next year, next time he was anywhere near Lance he was getting a hug whether he liked it or not.

 “Hey man, it's okay. You have every right to be mad at her,” Lance comforted, “just don't let your anger stop you from having a chance to have your mom back in your life.”

 “Yeah, you're right. I'll ... think about it,” Keith stared down at his hands for some time before rubbing them on his face.

 “Anyway, since when have you turned _oh-so-wise_?” he eventually said.

 Deciding that he'd done what he could, and that Keith probably could use a mood lift right about now, Lance placed his hand on his chest, putting on an offended face, “Excuse me? I've _always_ been this wise. That's what they call me _Lance the wise._ ”  
Lance considered it such a victory when Keith smiled.

 “Are you joking? Since when do we call you that?” he snorted.

 Okay, so he didn't have sound _that_ amused, “Uh, since forever? You just haven't been paying enough attention.”

 Keith raised his eyebrow, “I doubt that _so_ much, Lance. You once flirted with a tree because you thought it was one of the planet's native people.”

 Lance felt his face warm up, “Shut up! Those people really looked like trees and you know it!”

 Keith made a small laugh, so Lance couldn't bring himself to be too upset, he wasn't above giving Keith a glare though.

 They broke into a silence after that. It was a comfortable one. Yet, Lance really didn't want Keith to end the call, so he tried to think of something to talk about, but for the life of him he couldn't think of anything to say. _Come on, brain, one time I need you to come up with something so he won't go and you give me nothing?!_

 Lance wondered if keith felt the same when the other boy spoke up, “So, what's going on with the castle, I heard something about Orion, Oriond or something?”

 Lance was quick to answer, “Yeah, _Oriande,”_ he corrected, “with racist white lions that don't think you're worthy unless you've got some high levels of altean magic going on and other stuff. it's apparently the birthplace of alchemy or some other altean magical shit, I don't know, man. Ask Allura about that.” he shrugged.

 “No, I don't care about ... I mean is everyone fine? I heard it was a close call.” Keith asked.

 “Don't worry, we're fine,” Lance smiled, reassuring.

 “And what about you? From what I've heard you've been having _way_ too many close calls,” really, Lance was starting to wish the rebels wouldn't give _so_ much detail on all the stuff Keith did for the blade. It was not good for his blood pressure, “a little carefulness won't kill you, Keith.”

 Keith raised his eyebrow, “Are you ... scolding me?!” he didn't sound upset if anything he was smiling.

 “I don't know, do you need me to scold you?” Lance crossed his arms, “or should I just use my three step make-Keith-see-reason technique?”

 “Your what?” Keith questioned.

 “My three step make-Keith-see-reason technique,” Lance repeated, “you know; me telling you not to do some dumb shit, which will go completely ignored by you. And then me repeating myself while giving you reasons of _why_ you shouldn't do the dumb shit, which still will go unacknowledged by you, till I have to tell you Keith, don't do it, and _then_ you'll finally cave in.”

 Keith huffed a laugh, “You don't do that.” His expression turned less sure after a second, “Do you?”

 “All the time, man. Except instead of three steps I have to go through like twenty different steps for your stubborn ass to listen to me,” Lance laughed, shaking his head.

 It died pretty quickly as Keith frowned in return. He looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. _Oh,_ he was offended. Lance hadn't meant to offend him or to make fun of him. If anything this was something Lance was proud of. _Yeah,_ maybe he had to repeat himself a few times for Keith to listen, but in the end Keith _listened_ to him. He didn't do that with anyone else on the team, no matter how many times they said something. Lance had gotten through to him when no one else had. And that was amazing.

 But apparently Keith couldn't see that as he continue to pout. Lance didn't say all that to him but he couldn't stop himself from saying something else either, “Told you I was gonna miss having someone to make fun of.” His voice came out softer than he intended to.

 Keith looked up, his eyes were just as soft as he made a small smile that Lance found himself unable to look away from.

 The moment was broken when something Lance couldn't see on screen buzzed. Keith's eyes drew to something on his desk, his face immediately changing, “I have to go. Kolivan wants me.”

  _“Oh,_ right,” Lance said. It was in that moment that Lance realised exactly how much he had missed Keith. He didn't want Keith to go, he wanted to have casual bickering conversation with him and make him laugh that rare laugh of his.

  _He’s busy, you can't expect him to just play around_. He reminded himself.

 Still Lance had to ask one thing, “Wait,” he said, making Keith pause in reaching his hand to end the call, “Why did you call me?”

 Keith frowned, “Because of ... Krolia and—”

 “No, I mean why _me?_ Why not Shiro?” Shiro was always Keith's to go in these things. And even if when Shiro was gone, he and Lance had gotten so much closer, when Shiro had returned Keith had returned to his old normality. Hadn't _that_ been a kick in the guts.

 “Shiro's been ... different since he came back,” Keith said, shoulders dropping.

  _See, even he who hasn't been here has noticed it ._.. _Shiro is just busy. Keith knows that._

 “Oh,” Lance found himself feeling dissapointed for some reason.

 He looked up as Keith continued, “A-and when he was gone, you were always there. I just thought you could help,” he gave Lance a small smile, “I was right. Thanks, Lance.”

 Something warm bubbled in Lance's chest. Maybe the bubble was why his voice came out a little cracked, “Anytime, buddy.”

 “I'll see you when Kolivan calls?”

 Lance only nodded.

 “Bye.” Keith said reaching his hand to end the call.

 “See ya later, mullet.” Lance was almost sure he saw a smile tugging at Keith's lips as the screen went black. He stared at the now wall in front of him for some time.

 The bubbly feeling didn't seem to leave him as he took a bath and joined the others for the dinner.

 He was happy for Keith. This could actually help him a lot. His parents leaving him had clearly left a lot of scars on him, this could help heal those to some extent. He could have his mom back. Maybe that would help with his attachment issues. Maybe he would even come back—

 “What's with the smile?”

 He was brought out of his thoughts, and his bubble, by Pidge's voice.

 “Huh?” he said dumbly.

 “The smile,” she moved her finger making a shape of a smile on her face.

 Lance must've looked confused because Hunk cut in, “Dude, you haven't stopped smiling since you got here. It's starting to get creepy.”

 “I'm not smiling ...” he trailed off as he realized that he, in fact, _was. Huh,_ apparently he'd been smiling without actually knowing.

 “I just thought of a joke,” he said as the duo continued to look at him.

 Pidge shrugged. Allura joined them at the dining room after a while, too. “Who was the call from, Lance?” she asked as she sat down at the table.

 “Yeah, I totally forgot about that,” Hunk looked at him.

 “Keith,” Lance answered trying to sound as casual as possible, but there was just no way to make _that_ sound casual.

  _“Right,”_ Pidge huffed a laugh. “Seriously though?”

 “It _was_ Keith.”

 She gave him a doubtful look, “Why would Keith call you?”

 “To talk?” Lance shrugged.

 She raised an eyebrow, “About?”

 Lance opened his mouth to answer, only to close it as he realised he couldn't. If Keith had wanted everyone to know he would've told them, but he hadn't. He had went to the trouble to make sure only Lance would talk to him. This was his secret, Lance couldn't tell, Lance _wouldn't_ tell. Keith would tell everyone on his own pace, when _he_ was ready.

 “A mission.” He improvised.

 Pidge opened her mouth probably to ask more questions but Shiro beat her to it, “A mission? Why would Keith talk to _you_ about our missions?”

 Lance told himself there was no amounts of mockery concealed in Shiro's tone. “It was one of my missions.”

 “Which one?” he demanded.

 “I-it wasn't important.”

 Shiro gave him a look, “It must've been pretty important if he couldn't wait two days to call with Kolivan.”

 “No, there was just a misunderstanding about it,” shit, this lie was gonna unravel pretty soon. Lance should've come up with something better.

 “By the way, Pidge, did you know our walls could turn into screens?”

 Thankfully Pidge's shriek as Lance explained and her complaining to Allura and Coran of why they hadn't told them about it earlier seemed to distract everyone enough to forget about the call.

 Or at least he thought so till the next morning when Hunk brought it up again once it was just the two of them. And _wow,_ he really wasn't accepting ‘ _mission talk_ ’ as an answer. Not that Lance expected otherwise, Hunk knew him well enough to know when he wasn't telling the truth. And boy, was he persistent in wanting to know what really the call had been about.

 “Let it go, Hunk. It was personal,” Lance eventually said.

 “Oh,” hurt flashed across Hunk's face.

 “Not _me_ personal, buddy,” Lance immediately said, “you know I tell you everything. It was Keith personal. And I can't say anything. He's trusting me, man. No way in hell am I breaking it.”

 Lance knew Hunk really well but he had no idea what the weird smile on his face was about when he just gave up, “Okay.” 

 “Guess that explains the smile,” Hunk whispered under his breath.

 “What?”

 “Nothing.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   _“Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.”_
> 
> \- Tryon Edwards

 Unlike what she'd said that morning at breakfast, Allura didn't show up at the training room later. Lance trained around for about an hour for safe keeping, she could've been busy, before deciding to go after her. There was no way he was giving up his chance of getting that stupid shampoo. It glowed, and it looked magical, and it smelled magical and Lance _wanted_ it.

 He roamed the halls, looking for her. Though he didn't have to go far. He ran into her at the hallway leading to the lounge.

 “Lance, I was just about to come get you,”

 Lance was aware Allura was talking but he couldn't hear the words. His attention was caught elsewhere.

 The lounge had a pretty big door, it allowed anyone to get a half look of what was going on inside no matter how far they were. And even from this far he could make out the outline of a purple suit of someone standing there, clearly one of the Blades. The tiny, compared to the rest of Marmorites, figure had their back to him, and they had their hood up, but with or without the mullet, Lance would recognize that _mullet_ anywhere.

 His legs began running before his brain could process the information, there was only one thing going through the conscious and unconscious part of his brain: Keith.

 Keith. Keith. Keith. Keith. _Keith._

 Unfortunately, by the time the gears in his brain started moving again, he had already wrapped both hands around Keith, crushing the life out of the guy with the tightest hug he'd ever given someone.

 “What the …?”

 Keith stood stiff, his hands still in the air. Lance's brain signaled him that he should let go but before he could act on it, Keith's hand slowly came to rest around him too as he began to relex.

 “Hey.”

 Keith's voice was soft and warm and so quiet that Lance doubted he would hear it if he was even an inch away from him but he wasn't, he _wasn't._

 “Hey,” a laugh escaped him, and somehow he managed to hug Keith even tighter. He was _here._ The stupid mullet tickling the side of his face was a proof of that. Keith was here. _Holy shit!_ Keith was actually _here._

  _Wait a second …_

 Lance pulled back fast enough that Keith's hands stayed on him as he punched Keith's shoulder.

 “Ow!” Keith exclaimed, which probably was a courtesy to Lance’s pride. He hadn't even moved a single centimeter upon the contact and Lance had seen the way the boy fought, Lance's _actual_ punches would probably do about nothing to him, let alone this.

 “What was that for?” Keith rubbed his shoulder.

 “You were supposed to stay, not run away. I gave you a whole speech about it!”

 “Yeah, about that,” Keith looked annoyed when he pointed to the Marmorite standing next to him, Lance hadn't even noticed them being there, well, he hadn't noticed anything but _Keith,_ but that was beside the point.

 She was taller, had purple irises, thank you for that. Lance would never admit this out loud, and was a little ashamed of it but the galra who had yellow eyes with no irises kind of freaked him out. Two stripes of dark purple ran across her face. Her short- _ish_ purple hair turned magenta at the end.

 Oh, and one last thing, she was so very clearly Keith's mom.

 “Holy shit, Keith! She looks just like you!” Lance's voice had turned into a high octave but he couldn't help. It was actually Keith's _mom,_ his _galra_ mom, and she looked _just_ like him.

 Everything that had happened in the last five minutes was a little too much and too shocking, so Lance wasn't really in control of his actions when he stood on his toes taking her face in his hands, moving it to different angles, comparing it to Keith's startled one, “Oh my god, how is this even possible?”

 He understood how genetics worked, and that Keith was a half carbon copy of her but what the hell? She looked like a exact replica of Keith, or well, Keith was a exact replica of her.  
“This isn't normal!  You have the same eye shape, the same nose, the same cheek bones. The fuck? You have the exact same bangs, that doesn't even involve genetics. This should not be physically possible!”

 “Just stop,” Keith said wryly, making Lance fall out of his freaking-out-over-how-similar-the-mother-and-the-son-looked state.

 He immediately let go of her face, taking a step back, _I did not just do that._ Feeling his face warm up, he rubbed the back of his head. “Uh, sorry, you just, you just look a lot like each other.” _Understatement of the millennium!_

 Keith had half a smile, shaking his head at Lance. Lance didn't know he had missed the boy's ‘ _you're dumb_ ’ smile that much.

 Krolia laughed, taking a step forward, offering her hand to Lance.

 Lance took it, “Again, sorry.” He noticed Keith's smile had been quick to vanish and Lance wanted it back which was why he bowed down kissing her hand, “and charmed to meet you, milady.” He winked looking at Keith.

 Keith face palmed himself, once again shaking his head, but Lance saw the smile that tugged at his lips. _Success,_ he couldn't help his own smile.

 “Aw, you're cute,” Krolia’s voice took his attention from Keith to her, “you must be Lance.”

 “Yeah, I ...” Lance paused, frowning, “wait, how do you know my name?” 

 “Keith told me,” she said.

 “Keith told you about … me?” he couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice.

 Krolia smiled, _okay,_ _that's freakish_ , she looked so much like him, “Well, he told me about his whole team, but yeah specially you.”

  _Specially me?_ Why specially him? Lance’s suspicious look travelled between her to Keith and back to her, “Okay, whatever he said is not true,” he pointed to Keith, “I assure you I'm a very nice guy.”

 Krolia tilted her head, “Oh, so you're _not_ the team's amazing sharpshooter who keeps everyone together and has brilliant ideas? Who makes Keith laugh all the time, and kicks ass—”

 “Krolia,” Keith cut her off.

 Keith had said all that? About Lance? To his mom?

  _What?_

 Krolia turned to the side to look at Keith, “What, are you—”

 Lance finally able to find his voice interrupted her, “Hold on, _rewind,_ Keith actually _said_ all that?” his voice was too high but there really wasn't anything he could do about it.

 She nodded, smiling … smirking?!

 “About me?”

 Another nod.

 “You sure?” Lance questioned, “This guy?” he pointed to Keith, “about me?” he pointed to himself.

 Krolia made a small laugh, “Well, unless there's another Lance on this team, then yes, I'm sure.”

 Lance’s eyes rounded looking at Keith. Sure they had gotten more close, but Keith actually thought all that about Lance?! he had even told his _mom_ about it!

  _Well, fuck._ Lance could only stare at him, a warmness taking over his chest … and his face.

 “Aw, you were right, Keith; he is adorable!”

  _What?!_

 _What is going on?_  

 Lance tried to control his shock better this time, “Adorable? You called me adorable?” he narrowed his eyes at Keith, _is he blushing?_ “that's worse than goofball, Keith!”

 “Oh, He did call you that, too.”

 Now Keith was _definitely_ blushing, “That's enough, Krolia or you're going back to the blade right now,” he threatened in a very dry tone.

  _Aw,_ he was embarrassed. See, now _that_ was adorable, _not me!_ Lance pouted.

 Keith continued as Krolia didn't seem to want to say anything. She only frowned. It was the same frown Keith did when he was upset and he wanted to hide it, “Sorry guys, I didn't get to introduce her. this is—”

 Guys? _What_ guys? Lance turned around to see Pidge, Hunk and Allura there with rather amused faces.

 “When did _you_ get here?” he asked cutting Keith off.

 Pidge smirked, “About five minutes before you showed up, but you were too busy embarrassing your self to notice.”

 Lance refused to accept he blushed. _They've been here all this time?!_

 “Anyway,” Keith's voice had a ring of amusement _and_ embarrassment to it, one that quickly vanished, “this is—”

 “Your mom?”

 Keith once again was interrupted, this time by Hunk, “Yeah, even if Lance hadn't just spent five minutes pointing out your similarities, we would've noticed it on our own.”

 Lance just squinted at him. 

 Krolia shook each of their hands. _Huh,_ Blades didn't usually go for a handshake, “You must be … Hunk, … what was it? Oh, Pidge and princess Allura,” she bowed at the later, “It's an honour.”

 Lance found himself holding his breath. Allura had gotten over his issues with the fact the blades were galra a long time ago. She was half-dating a half galra for god's sake. Still though, Keith seemed to be having a hard time with this situation as it was, Lance didn't want anything to make it worse.

 Thankfully, Allura only smiled, “It's our honour to have you on board.”

 They rolled into small talk after that. Lance joined in once in a while too, but his attention was on Keith. He had withdrew from the small group, arms crossed over his chest. He was frowning, any trace of entertainment vanished from his expression. His eyes portrait of a storm.

 Lance found himself stepping closer to him, “She seems cool,” he said.

 Keith looked to the side. “Yeah.”

 The delayed quiet answer did nothing to improve Lance's worrying state. He put a hand on Keith's shoulder, “Hey, you okay?” Lance understood it was a dumb question to ask, but he couldn't stop himself from asking.

 Unfortunately, something else happened that took Lance's attention before Keith could answer, _if_ he was going to answer.

 Krolia was talking to Pidge and she had her back to them and _No._

  _Just ... no._

 “Is that a _rat tale?_!” Lance's shriek was loud enough to make everyone look at him, “I take it back, Keith! She _doesn't_ seem cool _at all_. A rat tail, are you _serious?”_ Lance threw his hands in the air, “That's like the only fucking hair cut in the universe that's _worse_ than a mullet.”

 Hunk and pidge snorted into laughter. Krolia just took the end of the stupid rat tail in her hand, “This was trendy back when ... I was on earth.”

  _“No, it was not!”_ he slapped his forehead, his voice achieving new levels of highness. But even if they went back to when Keith was born, that haircut would still be at least two hundred years overdue.

 “Oh my god, this explain _so much._ Like _so_ much. I'm sorry ma'am but I blame you for his,” he pointed to Keith's hair, “ugly-ass mullet. Clearly bad hair choices run in your family.” he shook his head, “I am so done with you Koganes.” Not to mention, they probably were the only people who had ever actually managed to pull those haircuts off.

 Everyone else in the room was laughing. Keith though, Lance would've expected him to laugh or roll his eyes, or scoff, _even_ give him a glare but the angry frown hadn't been expected. He looked at his mom, “Come on, I need to introduce you to Shiro.”

 Lance stared at them as they left. Wondering what had he said that made Keith that upset?

 Allura went after them too. Lance sat down with Pidge and Hunk.

 “So Keith's mom, huh?” Pidge said.

 “Yeah,” Lance nodded, “I'm not crazy here, she's hot, right?” he asked, changing the mood.

 “Lance!” Hunk scolded, going for a neck smack which lance dodged. “dude, you're breaking the number one rule of bro-ship: _never_ call your friend’s mom hot.”

 “I’m just stating a fact. It's not like I'm gonna hit on her,” Lance defended.

 “Well, I just think it's interesting,” Pidge said, sitting cross-legged.

 Lance wasn't sure he liked her tone.

 “ _Interesting_?!” he questioned.

 “Yeah, I mean considering the fact you just spent _all_ that time explaining how much she looks like Keith.”

 He didn't like her grin either. “So?” he raised his eyebrow. Unfortunately, Lance realized _where_ she was getting at a second too late.

 “So you think she's hot, and she looks just like Keith,” Pidge smirked, concluding, “you think Keith is hot.”

 “No, I don't,” Lance's words followed hers just as she finished saying them.

 “Yeah, you do,” she wiggled her eyebrows.

 “No, I do _not!”_

 “Oh, you think Keith is _sooo_ hot—”

 he threw one of the cushions at her, but she caught it, hugging it. 

 “—You probably lie awake at nights thinking about how hot he is.”

 “Shut up, Pidge! I _don't!”_

 She flashed a grin, all tooth, “Really? Then why are you blushing?”

 “I'm not blushing!” Lance’s hand came to protect his ears instinctively, he could feel the blood rushing there, _damn it._

 “You totally are,” Hunk, _the traitor_ , said, wriggling his eyebrows, “and you totally think Keith is hot.”

 “Hunk!”

 “What?” Hunk shrugged, “you do.”

 His denial didn't seem to be working, he crossed his arms, “So what if I do think he's hot? I think ninety percent of the people I meet are hot. Why does it matter?” _okay_ , but he really didn't think all those people were _as_ hot. Lance would never ever admit to this, but he wasn't blind: Keith was _fine_ as hell.

 He wasn't sure he entirely believed Pidge when she said, “No reason.”

 “But yeah, you're not crazy. She's hot. I mean I was reciting the entire verse of ‘Stacy's Mom’ in my head the first five minutes.” She added.

 Lance snickered. Maybe he sometimes got mad at her for being a little shit, but it was exactly because of her being a little shit that he could never _stay_ mad at her.

 “Pidge!” Hunk shook his head, placing a hand on his eyes, “you're both horrible people.”

 Pidge just laughed, before looking to Lance, “You knew about her didn't you? That's what your ‘ _mission talk,_ ’” she air quoted, “was actually about, wasn't it?”

 “Maybe,” Lance said, making them both squint at him. He ignored them. “Still, I can't believe he called me _adorable._ I'm not _adorable._ My six year old cousin is adorable,” he slumped deeper to his seat, “Our dog was adorable! I'm not—” 

 “What do you mean ‘our _dog’?_ You're not a dog person.” Pidge cut in.

Lancenarrowed his eyes at her, “Really? _That's_ what you heard from that?” he threw his hand up.

 “Yes, you're a cat person in my head, there's just no argument about it. I don't buy this _‘your dog’_ bullshit.” she crossed her arms.

“I can be both. And it was the family dog. And that's not even the point,” he mirrored her in crossing his arms, and maybe pouting a little, “the point is I'm cool not _adorable.”_  

 He squinted at Pidge when she whispered something to Hunk and they both laughed, but neither explained themselves. And lance was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

 They were still talking when Keith showed up again, this time alone, he took a seat next to Lance, silently pouting.

 Lance shared a look with the other two, “Hello again,” he said, “what happened?”

 “Shiro kicked me out of the room so they can talk, can you _believe_ that?” Keith crossed his arm over his chest, “like I don't know what they're gonna talk about, a hint: _me!”_

 Lance couldn't help his laugh, “Wow, try not to sound _too_ salty about it.”

 As Keith continued to pout, Lance tried to improve his mood, “I gotta ask you though, why the _hell_ did you need her to _tell_ you she was your mom? I mean one look at her face should've been enough. You guys are like that  _‘what if it was purple?’_  meme but in reverse. Like god took a look at your mom and thought _I'm gonna make a white copy of that_ , actually on second thought that was probably your dad—”

 “Will you shut up about it already? I _get_ it, she looks like me!”

 Lance stared at Keith, startled by the angry yell. But he knew Keith's levels of anger enough by now to know when it wasn't directed _at_ him, actually it rarely was. “O-okay, if it bothers you that much, I won't mention it again.” He made a zipping gesture with his hand across his mouth.

 The action took a small smile out of Keith, he rubbed the corner of his eyes with one hand. “Sorry,” he sighed, “everyone just keeps saying it.”

 “It's okay, man,” Lance reassured, reminding himself that this was all new and probably very overwhelming for Keith. He wanted to add ‘ _are you?_ ’, but perhaps he should do that later, once they were alone. Instead he asked, “What happened, though? I thought you were staying at the blade?”

 “I asked Kolivan to send me back—”

 “So you weren't even gonna listen to me?” Lance cut in, frowning.

 Keith was quick to answer, looking at him, “No, I _was._ I just … wanted a few days to take everything in. But Next thing I know Kolivan was sending _her_ with me.”

 “Oh. Maybe—”

 Pidge interrupted Lance, “I'm sorry, some of us didn't get _personalized_ calls, which we _lied_ to our teammates about on the _subject,”_ she pointed to Lance before squinting at Keith, “so how about _we_ get some questions first? Like _what_ the hell? How did you find her?”

 Lance leaned back, analyzing Keith as he retold the story, finally having a moment to see him, really see him.

 Even if his muscles had gotten more toned—those Marmora suits didn't left much for imagination, did they?—He looked thinner than he'd had when he left the castle, especially in his face. It made him look older, not that it was a bad thing ...  _okay_ maybe a little; but just because it made him look so tired. It made Lance's heart ache, he kind of wanted to wrap Keith in a blanket burrito and feed him enough Hunk's food till he looked healthy and happy again. He almost cracked himself up at the mental image. _Yeah,_ Keith would probably throw a knife at him if he tried something like that.

 But had those guys at the Blade starved him or something? Lance would have a talk with Kolivan but he had a feeling it was more Keith not eating than their fault. He had bags under his eyes too, which considering he was used to insomnia meant he was getting about zero sleep. Lance whined internally, did Keith have _no_ sense of self preservation?  
Lance doubted he would be staying for long, but they would still work on that in the meantime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to make Keith come back. What can I say? I'm just not a big fan of long distance relationships.
> 
> And let's be honest, we all sang Stacy's Mom when we saw Krolia on screen.


	5. Chapter 5

  After a quick visit to his room to change his armor to normal clothes, he hadn't gotten the chance to do so earlier with _everything_ going on, Lance rejoined the others for dinner. He almost wish he hadn't. It was a rather tense dinner.

 For a moment walking in there, having Keith back, he had hoped it would be like old time times but _nope,_ it wasn't. Not even close. not with the galra guest at the table that was Keith's mom. Not with shiro's angry scary scowl that seemed to be a constant part of him recently— _the man literally has the weight of the universe on his shoulders will you give him some slack?_ —Not with the way Allura sighed looking at the empty seat next to her where Lotor used to sit. Not with the way Keith went between glaring at his mom and glaring at the poor table. Everything was so different.

 Then again, Lance was different too.

 Yet, when his numerous efforts of enlightening the mood didn't work, he gave up. Finishing his dinner as fast as he could, he excused himself, going back to his room. Or rather the hallway of his room.

 He paced the hallway back and forth. It was something he did when he wanted to think, his room was a few hallways away from the others’ so no one would bother him.

 Maybe when Keith had been at the blade he couldn't have helped, but now that Keith was here Lance could help. And Keith very clearly needed it, the boy had some major emotional issues. And it was clear he wasn't dealing very well with Krolia on his own. Which Lance didn't expect him to. No one expected him to. He had every right to be angry. And it would probably take some time for him to work through it. But Krolia seemed nice enough and—

 His train of thoughts crashed when he heard voices coming in the corridor. No one came here unless they were looking for him?

 “Stop following me around.”

  _Keith!_

  _Shit,_ Keith's room was next to him. It's  so long since the mullet had actually been there, Lance had forgotten about that.

 “Keith, wait.”

 As he heard Krolia’s voice, Lance hid himself behind the wall at the end of the hallway. They sounded close enough that Lance wouldn't have enough time to get back to his room and he doubted his presence would be welcome right now.

 Soon enough Keith showed up, marching the hall with long strides, “I told you to stop following me around!” he yelled.

 Krolia followed him, “Keith, we need to talk,” she reached for Keith, grabbing him by his arm to stop him.

 Keith turned around, even with his back to Lance, he could see how tense he was. He yanked his hand back, out of her hold, “I think we've done enough _talking!_ I told you I want some time to think.”

 “I know and I understand you’ve went through a lot, but—”

  _“Do_ you?” Keith questioned, taking a step forward, his yell resonated through the hall, Lance heard every bit of hidden hurt in it. “Do you understand? I _fucking_ _doubt_ it!”

 Krolia's expression turned even more broken if possible, “Keith, I—”

 Keith didn't let her start, let alone finish, “You know, if you gave the slightest bit of shit about me, you would've at least respected when I told you I needed space. Instead of following me here.”

 “That wasn't me—”

 “I _don't_ care! Just leave me alone, you didn't have any problem doing it _before_!”

 Lance watched as Krolia stepped back, she opened her mouth a few times trying to say something she eventually gave up under what Lance could guess was Keith's angry glare, back tracking her steps. She stopped at the entrance of the hall, looking back at Keith, “I'm truly sorry, my son.”

 “Don't call me that.” Keith called even as she had already vanished.

 So … _correction;_ Keith was dealing _horribly_ with Krolia. Lance had thought it was bad before, but now it was clear Keith had been trying the ‘ _conceal, don't feel’_  thing in front of them.

 A loud thump made him look up. Keith stood facing the door, his fist on the wall, “Damn it!”

 Any other time Lance would've laughed at how much of an edge lord Keith was, punching a wall. But not now, not with the way Keith rested his forehead on the metal door his shoulders trembling. Not with the shaky sigh that echoed across the hall.

  _Fuck,_ Lance felt like he was more intruding on Keith now than he had when the conversation was happening. He had to look away, to bury his fingers in his arms to keep himself from walking out of the shadows to hug Keith, to tell him it was fine, even if it wasn't.

 Instead of going to his room, Keith walked out of the hall. Lance had no doubt of where he was going.  
Lance would follow him to the training room but later. First, he had to talk to Coran. He waited a few minutes after Keith had left to exit his hideout.

 He found the moustached man working—seriously, did the man ever rest?—outside the library.  
“Coran, my beautiful man,” Lance greeted with a smile, even if he wasn't in the mood for it he was here to ask a favor.

 The man returned the smile, “Lance, my boy,” he said in his cheery voice, “what can I do for you?”

 He narrowed his eyes at Lance, “I know you left dinner early but if you're here to ask for more food substance, I'm afraid there—”

 “Oh, trust me, I'm _not,”_ Lance reassured. Even after all this time the advisor didn't seem to realize _nobody_ in their right minds would ask to eat more of that disgusting goo than necessary. _Yes,_ Lance had asked for it a few times. He had used it for face-masks though, not for eating. But Coran seemed to think that Lance enjoyed the goo, and Lance wasn't sure he had the heart to tell him he didn't. Coran was like an extra crazy uncle Lance had never asked for but was glad to have.

 “Oh, then?” Coran looked up from the tablet in his hands, giving him a questioning look.

 Lance decided to skip to the point, he hadn't time for chit-chat; he wanted to check on Keith as soon as possible, “You're gonna assign a room to Krolia, right?” Lance didn't wait for an answer, “I, uh, I don't think Keith wants her to be too close,” that was an understatement. But Keith was right, if he wanted space, he could have it, as long as he was trying, “so can you make—”

 “I don't think that's gonna be a problem,” Coran cut in.

 “Uh, why not?” Lance asked.

 Tapping on the tablet in his hand, the ginger-haired man answered, “She ask me to ready a pod for her.”

 “What?”

 “Apparently something came up with the Blade? They needed her back,” Coran answered absentmindedly.

  _Something came up?!_ In the less than five minutes it took Lance to get here? _No way!_ Which meant … Lance's blood began boiling in a fraction of a second. How could she? How _dare_ she?

 “Which pod?” he asked.

 Coran looked up, clearly startled by the change of tone, before giving the answer quickly.

 Lance whispered a quick thanks before striding his way to the hanger. How dare she? She wanted to leave Keith, _again?_ As if she hadn't devastated Keith enough already? Well, over Lance’s dead body was she gonna do that!

  _How dare she?_

 He gritted his teeth as he walked in the hanger, seeing Krolia putting a bag in the small pod. Lance was sure she had heard him storming in, she was a spy for fuck's sake and he was stomping his foot hard enough to place permanent footprints on the floor, but she didn't bother to stop what she was doing or to acknowledge him.

 Lance rarely got angry. _sure,_ he had casual fights all the time, he got pissed and annoyed ,all the time. He was mostly in control with those. But anger, _real_ anger, the kind that made him see red was rare for him. He could count the time he'd felt like that in his entire life on one hand. Well now, thanks to Krolia, he had to add a second hand too, because _this_ was certainly one of those times.

 He didn't waste a second, “So he gets it from you,” he said.

 Krolia looked up at him, frowning, her face showing no vulnerability like it had earlier. _Good,_ cause Lance was here to yell.

 “Gets what?”

“Fleeing as soon as shit gets real!” his words came out a yell, he didn't care, he took a step forward. She was almost a head taller than him, but Lance didn't care. He looked down on her, “You fucking promised him you wouldn't leave him _again._ Care to explain what the hell you're doing?”

 “Keith doesn't want me here,” she said determined. “and I don't see why I should explain myself to you.” 

 “Oh, and you know that because you know him _so_ well?” he demanded, ignoring the second part of her words.

 Krolia looked away, busying herself with her bag, “No, because _he_ told me,” she clearly tried to hide the hurt in her voice. Lance heard it, though. Really, the resemblance between her and Keith even in the way the acted was uncanny, but at this very second it was infuriating.

 “Oh, _he_ told you? Did he yell at you? Is that it; are your feeling _hurt,_ ma'am?” he mocked. He was being cruel, he didn't care, “well, _boo-hoo,_ get over yourself. That's Keith, he lashes out, and he leaves and he doesn't like to get attached. Wanna know why _the hell_ he's like that?” he snapped not waiting for an answer,

 “'cause the one person who's supposed to be there for him, to support him his entire life, fucking _left_ him. You have no right to be hurt by him when you put this upon him!”  
Lance stopped taking a second to take a breath in, to calm himself. It didn't work. Neither did Krolia’s taken aback face.

 “You've left him once, I don't care what shitty excuses you gave yourself to justify doing that, but you're not allowed to leave him like that _again!”_

 Krolia was looking down, her expression guilty, “I wasn't going to _leave_ him.”

 Lance scoffed, glaring at her, “Yeah, that's why you're filling up a pod because you _weren't_ going to leave him.” he threw his hand towards the bag.

 “I wasn't.” She corrected, “I'm _not._ I was just gonna follow the castle inside this. in _distance._ Keith doesn't want me here.”

 Oh, so technically she wasn't completely running away, still …

 “I told you, you _don't_ know what he wants,” he repeated.

 He, on the other hand, knew how much Keith wanted a family. It was obvious in the small wistful look, he tried to hide everytime Lance rant on about his family. And don't get him wrong, as soon as they returned to earth Lance was throwing that hotheaded mullet to his ma and the rest of his family. Let them shower the boy with as much love as necessary, but this was Keith's chance to have his own mom back. And no one would take that chance away from him, not himself not, his mother. Lance _wouldn't_ let them.

But first he had to make sure she wouldn't break him anymore.

 “And that _still_ counts as leaving. If you're going to do that, to give up everytime things get slightly hard, do us all a favor and leave without looking back. He doesn't need you to hurt him any more than you already have.”

 “I won't,” Krolia shook her head quickly.

 “Well, if you're going to stay, then you're going to stay with all you got. Keith needs a constant, for you to be an actual mother. No running away when things get tough. Because let me _assure,_ you there's gonna be a lot of that.” He said.

 She nodded. So did Lance.

 “He wanted space, though,” Krolia whispered to her self.

 “Then give him space,” Lance offered the closest thing to smile he could right now, “this is a big castle, I'm sure you can both occupy it without you having to be around him all the time. Give him space, but not by leaving. Stay and just prove to him that you're here to _stay.”_

 Krolia sighed, looking back at the pod and to him, “You're right.”

 “And lady, you really don't seem to know the first thing about parenting, so here's a lesson I learned from my brother. If your kid wants something that's bad for them, you don't let them have it. No matter how much they want it, or how big of a tantrum they throw.” Lance stared into her eyes—their eye shape might be the same but her irises actually looked nothing like Keith's—to get the message through; that in this case _Keith wanting her to leave him alone_ was the bad thing.

 She rested her back to the pod’s body, nodding.

 Lance turned to leave, he _did,_ but damn it he needed to make it clear, “One last thing,” he looked at her, “when Keith told me his mom  left him when he was three, my immediate thought was if I ever meet that lady she's getting a punch. When I saw you today, I thought maybe this can be actually good for him, but make no mistake if you do _anything_ to harm him, you're getting much worse than a punch, _capisce?”_ Lance didn't wait for an answer, turning on his heels striding out.

 He stood outside the hanger's door, resting his back to it, running his hand through his hair. _Shit, I just did that_. He actually went and threatened someone. And not just someone, Keith's _mom,_ a member of the Blade, someone who could probably kill him without moving a muscle. But _fuck,_ if he didn't mean it.

 Caring about Keith Kogane was a dangerous game to play. It brought out something very protective and unfamiliar in Lance.

 Lance might've took his steps to the training room with too much force. Maybe he should do some training of his own, he certainly sould use some _blowing off steam_ time. Fuck, the anger was still running through his veins.

 Once arriving at the training room, Lance stood out side the closed doors, watching Keith through the glass part of the doors.  
Keith was a good fighter, Lance had always known that. But he'd never realized _how_ much of a good fighter Keith was before.

 His form was perfect, his moves natural, he fought like he knew what the next move of the gladiator would be. And Lance could only watch with fascination, because now he knew how much work it took to get amazing at those moves, Lance would have to spend days to learn even one of those, and yet Keith did each one perfect like it was nothing.

 Even if his anger was quite obvious in his movements, Lance couldn't say it took anything from how incredible he fought. He had the wrath of angel … _really, Lance? Angel?_ His brain mocked him, but there really wasn't anything else Lance could describe him as. Not with the graceful way he moved—

  _“Lance!”_

 Lance jumped up, looking around to see Allura next to her. He put a hand on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart, “Jesus Christ, Allura, you almost gave me a heart attack.” Yeah, _that's_ why his heart was racing.

 “I called you like five times,” she shrugged, walking down the corridor, “what's got your attention this bad?”

 She didn't need him to answer as he stood next to him looking inside the room, “Oh, is he back to his nightly trainings already?”

 Allura gave him a glance from the corner of her eyes, “Why are you standing out here?”

 “I don't know,” Lance answered honestly, “I just …” he trailed off not knowing what to say.

 “Want to make sure he's fine?” Allura finished.

 Lance's head snapped to her. Had she heard something, the yelling, or …? He gave her a questioning look.

 She only smiled, “You seem to be doing that for everyone, recently.” There was a hint of pride in her voice.

 “Nah, I'm just always at the right place and right time to do it,” Lance shrugged.

 Allura gave him a knowing before returning her attention back to the glass doors.  
“He fights well.” 

 And maybe he'd thought the same thin earlier, but well just didn't seem enough, _“Well?!_ Allura, He's freaking _amazing!_ Look at how he's doing that!” he pointed at Keith, “He's practically defying gravity. _Look!_ That flip is _impossible._ I should know, I've tried to do it like a gazillion times. He's like a freaking fighting genius or something.” He ranted to Allura in a hushed, and gush-ed, voice, even knowing that the doors were soundproof, “like how is he moving that fast? That's incredi—”

 It was Allura bursting into laughter that broke him out of his ranting. _Crap,_ he shouldn't have said it, even if it was all true he shouldn't have said it like _that._

 “Shit, don't tell anyone I said that.” A guy had a reputation to save.

 That brought another snort out of her, “oh, it's too late for this.” She shook her head, “I'm going to bed.”

 She tilted her head, her expression turned mischievous, “I'll let you go back to, _uh,_ what's that word Pidge uses in this situations?” she snapped her fingers, “Ah, _yes,_ I'll let you go back to your _fangirling.”_

 “Allura!” he called as she turned around, reminding himself that she was a princess and it would be very rude to call her something like _‘jackass’._

 Maybe back when they weren't close enough for her to tease him was _better_ … not really.

 “Goodnight, Lance,” she said voice filled with amusement, walking away, “try not to stare _too_ much at him.” She added vanishing before Lance could answer.

  _Okay,_ she clearly had been spending _too_ much time with Pidge, that needed to stop _immediately._

 Lance shook his head, returning his gaze to Keith. _He still looks angry._ He probably needed an hour or two more to cool down. Lance should go do something around the castle and return later.

 Or he could just stay here. _Yeah,_ that was probably better. This way there would be no way he missed Keith coming out.  
Lance sat down on the floor, leaning to the wall. His eyes followed Keith across the training deck.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

  Keith lunged for the gladiators for the hundredth time. He could feel the blisters forming on his palms where he held the sword. The pain wasn't unfamiliar as he was no foreigner to overtraining himself so it did not stop him from slashing at the gladiators around him relentlessly in an attempt to get rid of the jumble of thoughts.

 At least now he knew why he hadn't been able to find anything about his mother back on earth. He'd thought about meeting his mom, finding her so many times growing up. He'd imagined crying, or laughing or running to hug her; in reality none of those had been the case.

 The first few days Keith had tried, he really had tried to build a relationship with Krolia. They'd talk and she'd explained. He understood; the Blade had needed her back so she had left. It was actually rather simple and understandable.

 Except that it fucking was not. _S_ he _left._ She abandoned him and now she was back? Well, what use was that? Where was she when he needed her? Where was she when he had no one? When he was all alone? 

  _Fighting_ _an intergalactic war._

His brain supplied. He supposed that made it okay.

… _not._

 What did she expect? That she could just insert herself back into his life after all these years and they were gonna hold hands, sing Kumbaya and everything would be just fine?

 Keith couldn't keep pretending that it was fine, because it was _not._

 Not that everyone  telling him how alike they were was helpful. Great, they looked like each other, what was he supposed to do with that?

 She was just a woman who looked like him, who perhaps acted like him, who shared the same blood with him but in the end, she was a stranger. In the end the truth was they had nothing in common because he didn't know her and she didn't know him. She might be his mother, but she wasn't his _mom._ Keith didn't have a mom.

Keith didn't have a _family._

 “Ugh,” he cut through the gladiator's chest, slicing it into pieces.

  _That's not fair. You have Shiro._

 Except that he kept leaving, too.

 Keith mentally slapped himself. It's not like Shiro had had a say in either of those times. Shiro was his family, his brother even if he was distant right now.

  _And you have everyone else_.

 The others in the castle were his family too. Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Coran and … Lance. Keith couldn't say that he wasn't still shocked that Lance had jumped to hug him. The memory brought a small smile to him in between the throws. Yeah, he had a family, it was a small one and he had doubts about them at times but he _had_ a family.

 Krolia was no part of it.

 He didn't know how long he spent beating up the poor gladiators till his nerves began calming down, or perhaps he'd just gotten too tired to have any energy left in him to be upset.

 Either way, the momentary shut-down of his brain was quite welcome. It was rather odd that the only moments of peace he got was when he was in the battle, when blood was pounding in his ears. When he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat, when he could think about nothing but where to hit and what to evade.

What kind of person found comfort in war?

 God, he was so fucked up.

 Keith rubbed his face, sighing. Deciding he'd had enough, he ended the training sequence. With slouched shoulders he moved his body out of the room, walking down the hall. He paused at the quiet snoring looking back. _What the ...?_

 He had to double check to make sure he wasn't imagining things. What was Lance doing there?

 He sat on the floor, hugging his knees, chin resting on his knees. His eyes were closed, sleeping. Somehow he managed to look like he was cozy sitting on the cold hard floor. How long had he been there?

 “Lance?”

 Keith had to call a few times, until Lance hummed a muffled answer. Yeah, this wasn't working. He bent down, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder, shaking him gently.

“Lance.”

 “Mullet?”

 Lance opened one eye in a, well, adorable way before opening the other. It brought a smile to Keith.

 “Welcome back to the land of the living,” he teased.

 “Wait, what are you doing in my ro—” Lance trailed off, rubbing his eyes, “what am _I_ doing here?”

 Keith's smile deepened, “You're asking me?”

 Lance yawned, stretching before looking around. His eyes stayed on the training rooms doors, “Oh, right.”

 Unsure of what to make of that, Keith offered his hand to Lance.

 “Where you out her _e all_ night?”

 The castle lights changed during the hour of the nights. Right now, the dim light told him it was near morning.

 “Where you in there all night?”

 Lance took his hand, standing up. He stumbled a few steps to the side.

 “Whoa, hey,” Keith tried to help him balance, “you're really sleepy, huh?”

  _“You're_ really sleepy.” Lance said walking next to him in an uneven line.

 That finally made Keith laugh, “Is that supposed to be an insult?”

 _“You're_ an insult.”

Keith shook his head, chuckling. Lance's comebacks were even worse when he was half sleep.

 “Why were you waiting for me?” he asked since there really wasn't any other reason for Lance to be there.

Lance half stumbled over his own steps, “Wasn't sure you remembered the way back. You were gone for so long.” He pouted.

 Keith found himself staring at Lance from the corner of his eyes. With those half-closed eyelids Lance seemed sleepy enough not to be in control of what he said. His tone had started cheery but the sadness was clear in the end.

 Keith didn't ask anything the rest of the way.

 It was outside his room that Lance stopped. And for the second time that day—he hasn't  gone to bed yet, so he still counted it the same day even if technically it was the next morning—Keith was shocked as Lance’s warm embrace engulfed him.

 “Uh, Lance?” he questioned the boy hugging him.

 “You look like you needed it,” Lance mumbled to his shoulder.

 That was all Keith seemed to need for his hands to go from standing in the air, to griping at Lance’s shirt. An involuntary sigh escaped him. He wasn't normally a big fan of physical contact, but Lance was right, he needed it. He needed this.

 “We, me and everyone else, you know we'll be here for you, no matter how far you go, right?” Lance whispered. Sleep soaking into his every word.

 He didn't seem to wait for an answer or to give Keith a chance to ask _where_ that had come from, before vanishing to his room. Keith saw him falling to his bed as the door slid close. He stood there staring, smiling, at the closed door.

  _Yeah,_ Lance was definitely a big part of his family even if he would never know it.

 

 Two hours of sleep and a shower later, Keith made his way to breakfast. _Great,_ Krolia was there.

 She didn't leave, though, Keith had thought she would. She looked like was going to last night. 

_Because of what you said._

Keith ejected the thought out of his head, taking a seat at the table, greeting the others. The meal was eaten in silence. It was awkward, awkward enough that even Keith could tell it was awkward. It was Lance, as always, who broke the silence.

 “So I gotta ask, was your dad like really short?”

 Keith didn't know what he expected but it certainly wasn't _that._  He frowned, “What?”

 “Your dad,” Lance repeated, “was he short?”

 “What? No, what _-why?”_ Keith gave him a questioning look and a gesture with his hand. Lance never asked about his past, not unless Keith brought something up first.

 A smirk took over Lance's features, “Well, there has to be an explanation for how short you are, considering,” he finished by pointing to Krolia.

 Keith couldn't bring himself to be upset at Lance for bringing her up right now, perhaps because of what Lance'd said earlier or perhaps it was the normalcy of Lance teasing him. He could, however, be upset at Lance for calling him _short._

 “I'm not short.”

 Lance snorted into laughter, he wasn't the only one laughing at the table. “Okay.” He gave Keith a mocking smile.

 “I'm not. You're like two inches taller than me.”

 “Two very _very_ long inches, Keith.”

“I'm _not_ short! I'm taller than average,” Keith pointed out.

 Lance's smirk was too smug, “Yeah, average of midgets.”

  _God, damn it._ It didn't matter how close they had gotten, Lance still seemed to live on riling him up and he did such a good job at that. Though, and Keith probably would never admit this out loud, he enjoyed their bickers. It didn't mean it wasn't still infuriating, it meant it was infuriating in a fond way. In a way it was a constant for Keith, it didn't matter how much it had changed from actual fights to light teasings and bickers, it didn't matter how much _they_ had changed, it was still there, and it was comforting. _Lance_ was comforting, even when he pissed Keith off to no end. 

 “Actually, you're right. You're not short,” Lance agreed in a tone that gave Keith no comfort in being admitted to be right. If he knew Lance, which he hoped he did, he was gonna say something worse, “You're not short, you're _tiny._  You're so tiny, with tiny legs, and itty bitty tiny toes,” he put his index over his thumb, “you have to stand on to reach stuff in top cabinets.”

  _Okay, scratch the fond part,_ Lance was using baby voice. Keith glared at him.

 “Because you're a jackass who puts stuff there  _on purpose.”_

  _“Yeah,”_ he huffed as Lance's eyes rounded , Hunk and Pidge quietly snorting. _Oh, yeah_ , he _definitely_ knew about that. He'd caught Lance in the act at least a few times.

  _Still don't know why he does that._ Well, apart from being a little shit.

 “Whaaat?” Lance made a laugh, “I don't do that.”

 Keith raised an eyebrow, giving the suddenly red-ear-ed boy a knowing look.

 Lance was saved by someone’s laugh. To Keith's dismay it was Krolia’s.

 “I used to do the same to Travie all the time, he looked so funny trying to reach.”

 Firstly, Keith had never thought his dad was a person who answered to _Travie_ , and secondly, did she just compared Lance and him to herself and his dad?

  _Yeah, cause that ain't awkward._

 He frowned, “Well, whoop de doo for _you,_ nobody cares.”

 He didn't want to see something like hurt flash on her face,so he looked away but he was faced with Lance looking at him with worried eyes. Keith expected the look to vanish but Lance just gave him a small smile.

 They returned to silent after that.

 Keith really didn't have anything to do after breakfast. He would've trained but Hunk had the training room reserved for that morning. The other boy offered to let Keith use it instead but Keith refused. He couldn't just show up and expect everyone to change their weekly routine for him, so instead, he headed for his room. Thanking every god when he noticed Krolia wasn’t following him. Maybe she had actually listened to him and backed off.

 Keith rested his back to the wall outside his room, waiting for Lance to show up, maybe they could hang out.

 What? He was bored and he didn't want to think and Lance always cheered him up when he was like that.

 And they had done that a couple of times before Keith … left. Hanging around in Lance's room, not doing anything special, each busying themselves in their own work. Yet  somehow they always ended up doing something together; Keith would be working on plans of attacks and Lance would be helping him out, telling him off when something was too risky or if he had a better idea—which he did, a lot—and suddenly Lance would pull him in front of his tv, forcing him to play a game.

 Sometimes Keith would be checking information on whether there was any news about Shiro, which there never was and then before he knew it he would end up on the floo, holding his stomach, laughing at some dumb thing Lance had said, anything else forgotten.

 He wasn't sure why it was always Lance's room. maybe because he always offered and Keith accepted? It's just Lance's room felt more comfortable to be in. It wasn't really the furniture or anything but the fact that the room itself seemed to scream Lance. Like it had taken happy vibes from Lance and gave it off to anyone who entered.

 

  Unfortunately, Lance didn't show up and Keith ended up going back to his room. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, he could take a nap. He certainly was tired enough, but he didn't want to. Day-naps were just not for him, he woke up feeling heavy and feeling _more_ tired, every time.

 He tried training a few moves, but ended up giving up on it soon enough, it just felt dumb to fight an imaginary enemy. He grew out of that phase a few years ago. 

 He could go find someone and stay with them but he had a feeling any discussion would immediately lead to the very subject he was trying to avoid, the very subject that was walking somewhere in this castle.

 He could go talk to Shiro, he _should._ But he wasn't sure he _wanted_ to. Not with the way Shiro had been acting. He hadn't even reacted when Keith had introduced him to Krolia. It wasn't every other week Keith introduced his full galra mother to him, but apparently it _was_ to Shiro. God, he was just so different.

 Keith ended up just lying on his bed, staring at the grey ceiling. One would thought a magical castle-ship would have a more interesting ceiling. If he were to stay longer, he would've borrowed some of that paint Lance had used on his ceiling.

 That had been a fun day. The four of them in Lance's room trying to figure out how to paint the high ceiling, without getting a ladder—since none of them was in the mood to go get one from Coran. In the end, Hunk had picked Pidge up similar to the way the way in that old lion animation and she had painted small star prints while Lance had screamed at her not to ruin his ceiling.

 The result was quite nice to look at, specially at nights. Sometimes, in one of those times he spent at Lance's room, when Keith was tired, he would fell sleep looking at them in the middle of work. And if he woke up with a pillow under his head and a warm jacket over his shoulders, well, neither of them ever mentioned it. 

 Even with the smile that brought, Keith sighed. If someone had told him one day he would feel bored while being aboard an alien castle-ship, even if they skipped the part about _him_ being half alien, he would've pull his knife, telling them to beat it because they sure as hell would be crazy.

 

 Staring around the empty room he remembered one of the reasons he'd left for the blade; sitting around, doing nothing, even for a short while, was not his thing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent two hours on google looking through baby names to find a name for Keith's dad, and for the life of me, I couldn't decide on one. For some reason, my brain kept suggesting ‘Tom’ and like no, that guy is not a Tom. I had to settle for Travis, but I'm open to suggestions. Seriously though, how do people name their kids?!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   _“Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”_
> 
> \- Joseph Campbell

  Keith felt both grateful and ungrateful when it was time for lunch—Coran had made it clear that they all needed to be present for three meals a day, the first day they set foot in the castle,  _paladins need their might—_ At least he had something to do now, even if Krolia would be there.

 Trying to ignore her presence, he focused his attention else where, on everyone else. He noticed Lance wasn't at the table sitting down. Keith didn't think much of it, it wasn't uncommon for the former blue paladin to be late.

He ended up staring at his plate for half of the meal. If he'd thought breakfast was awkward, he had another thing coming. The silence was suffocating. For once in his life, Keith wished someone would say something, anything— _where's Lance when you need him to babble on?_ —but as he'd learned pretty early in his life, wishes don't come true. The only spoken words where by Shiro asking him to pass a plate, Keith did so giving a smile. It was returned only with a nod.

 “Should someone go get Lance?” he finally asked when the lanky boy still didn't show up by the time he had finished eating.

 “No,” Hunk answered absentmindedly, “He’s skipping again.”

 “Why?” Keith asked when Hunk didn't share anything else.

 “He usually trains at noon.” Allura explained, smiling. The pride in her voice was enough for Keith to pick up on it.

 Trains? Lance was skipping food for training? And usually did so?

  _What?_

 It wasn't that Lance escaped training, no, but he also didn't pick extra work. Not that he was lazy—even if Keith called him that to tease him—he just didn't need the training that much anymore. He was an excellent shot. It wasn't uncommon for Keith to find himself distracted mid-battle, admiring the shots Lance made. Seriously, some of those were _impossible,_ how could he shoot with _that_ much precision from _that_ far away? Lance didn't need much training with his shooting, because he already was the best.

 And even though his close combat could do some work— _a lot of work_ , like he sucked at close combat, he sucked bad _—_ Keith had given up on asking him to work on it. Honestly, nothing ever got the chance to get close enough to Lance, _well alive_ , for him to _need_ to dirty his hands. Specially, since back then Keith had been there to make sure nothing got close. And well it wasn't like he could complain to Lance to learn short range fighting when he wasn't even here.

 So it was a little weird for him to pick that much voluntary training. Apparently Shiro thought so.

 “At least that's what he _says_ he's doing,” The man muttered.

 Keith frowned. Yeah, maybe he thought it was weird too, but Shiro's tone insinuated Lance was _lying_ about it. Lance wouldn't do that. If he didn't want to train or wasn't in the mood, Lance would just say so. He never would say he was training if he was doing something else. Besides, Lance hadn't weaseled out of training for so long, even before Keith had left.

 Maybe that's why no one paid any attention to Shiro's comment except for the princess.Did Allura just roll her eyes at Shiro?

  _That's certainly new_.

 Allura always seemed to hold Shiro and his opinions in a high place, and even if Keith had notice something was off between them during the rather more recent castle calls, for her to roll eyes at him?That was a new level.

 

 Lance must've vanished _pretty_ quickly from the training room; he wasn't there when Keith showed up after lunch. Picking a sword from the small armory, he started the training sequence.

 By the time he was done, a couple hours had passed. He was dripping with sweat as he headed back to his room, taking his second quick shower that day. Instead of wearing his Marmora suit, he put on his old normal ones; who knew how long it took Kolivan to call for them.

 Speaking of, next time he _did_ meet with Kolivan, they needed to have a very serious conversation. Kolivan must've known Krolia was his mother, which meant all this time he hadn't told Keith on purpose. He might be quite robotic and Keith's leader, _boss,_ but he had _no_ right to do that.

 

 Funny how quick all that was forgotten, the frown on his face turning into a smile as soon as he entered the lounge. Pidge was there, cross-legged on the floor, resting her back to Hunk's side, and across from the pair, sitting upside down on the couch, legs crossed over the backseat, and with a tablet in his hand was Lance.

 Keith shook his head, taking a seat in a safe distance next to Lance. He knew Lance enough to know sitting any closer than that equaled him getting a free ticket for a kick to the head.

 Whatever Lance was doing, took enough attention from him not to even notice Keith had entered the room. “Does blood even get to that head of yours sitting like that?”

 Lance's startled _“Keith!”_ was almost simultaneous with Pidge's laugh.

 “Haha, gotcha!”

 Lance immediately returned his eyes to the tablet, tapping on it forcefully, “No no no, come on, _come on!_  No,  _damn it!_ ”

 “And that's another win for the Pidge team, thank you,” Pidge pumped a fist I'm the air.

 “Aw, man,” Lance pouted, dropping the tablet to his chest. 

 “Are you guys playing against each other?” 

 Keith wasn't sure how Lance managed to sit up normally that quickly without getting a whiplash, but he shuffled next to Keith in less than a second with a big grin on his face. “Yeah,” he showed the screen to Keith, “I came up with it.”

 The screen showed an avatar which Keith assumed was Lance’s and a few others next to it.

  _“I_ did all the work though,” Pidge argued, pushing up her glasses over her nose.

 Lance turned his head, squinting at her, “But it was _my_ idea.”

 “And I made it happen.”

 “The idea is what matters!”

 “Since when?”

 “Guys,” Hunk drawled, giving them each a look.

 Lance rolled his eyes,  _“Fine,_ me and Pidge,” he gave Pidge a mock smile, “came up with it.”

 “You know you could just use the tv and the controllers if you wanna play together?” Keith questioned.

 “Uh, no? This isn't the stone age?” Pidge's tone was the representation of the word _‘duh.’_

 Lance nodded, his previous agitation forgotten, before looking to Keith, “Besides, this way we can play whenever we want, we even put a chat part. It's like an online game but only with everyone at castle.”

 Keith quirked an eyebrow at the excited Lance, “So, just you and Pidge then?”

 Lance pouted a little, crossing his hands over the tablet, pressing it to his chest. It momentarily distracted Keith. He looked adorable.

 “Hunk joins in sometimes.”

 “Lance got Allura to play one time too.”

 Perhaps it was Pidge's grim tone but Keith found himself asking, “What happened?”

 “She kicked all our asses and Pidge blocked her from playing again,” Lance chuckled.

 Keith joined him in that. “Seriously?”

 “Yeah, she doesn't handle losing very well.”

 “I can handle loosing _just fine,”_ Pidge defended, “way better than _you_ can.”

 “Sure,” Lance nodded in a mocking way. He turned to Keith, whispering “She shaved my eyebrow last time I won.”

 Keith laughed, “What—”

 “Will you let it go?! You've won a hundred times since then and I haven't done that,” Pidge had jumped up standing from the ground, “and the only reason I did that one time was you refused to accept it wasn't a _fair_ win. Hunk distracted me! _So quit bringing it up!”_

Wow, Keith didn't know Pidge's voice could reach _that_ high but if anyone could be the cause of something like that, it's definitely Lance.

“I had to walk around the castle for 10 days with only _one_ eye brow till Coran found that potion thingy, I'll bring it up whenever I want to, Pidgey ” Lance stuck his tongue out at her.

She just sat down, pouting. But the way she was looking at the cushion next to Lance, Keith wouldn't put it past her to be thinking about suffocating Lance with it. Keith shared a look with Hunk laughing at the other two.

 Eventually he sighed, “Can't believe I missed that.”

 “Yeah, Lance magically got _‘sick’”_ Hunk air quoted, “when Kolivan called that week.”

 Keith didn't get a chance to laugh before Lance shrieked, “I _was_ sick!”

 Pidge raised an eyebrow, “Really? And you magically got better right after?”

 “I-I,” Lance faltered. “Shut up.” 

 Pidge turned her grinning face to Keith, “But fear not my child, I kept pictures.”

 “What?!” Lance sat up straight, “Pidge, _No.”_

 “Pidge, _yes.”_ Keith shrugged when Lance glared him with betrayed eyes. What? He _wanted_ to see those pictures.

 “Pidge, don't you dare.”

 “Pidge, don't you _not_ dare.”

 Pidge smirked, “Don't worry, I'm _gonna_ dare.”

 Keith gave Lance a victorious look. The other boy narrowed his eyes at him before averting the squint to Pidge, “You know I can still return the favor Pidge, and trust me, I won't settle for just your eyebrows.”

 “You wouldn't,” Pidge looked at him doubtfully.

 “Oh, I would, Pidgey. We both know I would.”

 The stare off between Pidge and Lance went on for sometime, before she finally gave in, “Fine. I guess you can hold on to the last bit of dignity you've got left with Keith.”

  _“What_ dignity?” Keith snorted.

 “Ow!”

 Keith rubbed on where Lance had just jabbed him in the ribs as Lance placed the tablet in his lap ignoring his cry of pain.

 “I wanna see how you play,” the other boy answered before Keith asked.

  _“Please,_ you just wanna see him lose miserably.” Pidge corrected from her seat on the floor.

 “Of course I do,” Lance raised an eyebrow, “Isn't that exactly why you're turning yours on?” he pointed to her opening the tablet.

 Pidge smirked, “hell yeah.”

 Keith scoffed. _Unbelievable._ Needless to say none of the parties present paid any attention to his _“I'm not going to lose miserably!”_ He started the game with the three watching him play.

 Well, at least Hunk and Pidge did. Lance though, he had placed both elbows on his knees palms under chin, looking the screen ... for like _three_ _seconds._ Keith noticed the moment Lance stopped watching the game and started watching _him._ It might or might not have been the reason Keith's face suddenly warmed up, but that also could be because he was really losing miserably, and he wasn't going to mention it but five minutes of Pidge and Hunk laughing at his playing and Lance’s solid staring at his face and Keith paused the game.

 “Why are you staring me?”

 “What? I haven't seen you up close in months. I think I'm entitled to some staring.”

 It was Keith's turn to stare. He had expected Lance to deny it. But even if the words had been said with a certain amount of bitterness, Lance was just looking at him with soft eyes and a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

 “Never thought I’d miss seeing you in your tacky jacket this much.”

 Keith looked down at his jacket automatically, “My jacket is _not_ tacky.”

 Lance straightened his back, lookng at him with rounded eyes, “What-I didn't say it …” he paused.

 Even if it had been clear he hadn't meant to say the earlier sentence out loud he just shrugged placing his chin in his hand, “ _Of course_ it's tacky. I mean does it even have any use? I doubt it actually warms you. But then again, I guess it's the only thing that goes with those dumb fanny packs,” Lance pointed to his belt, raising an eyebrow, “I mean seriously not even one, but _two?!”_

 “Hey, what's wrong with fanny packs?”

 To Keith's surprise, those hadn't been his words but Hunk's. He had his hands over his own protectively, pouting.

 “The correct question would be, what's _not_ wrong with fanny packs? but just for you Hunk, I'll change my sentence to It’s the only thing that would go with those ... go-go boots.” Lance looked at Keith's shoes judgingly, making a face.

  _Go-go boots? How dare he?_

 Keith frowned, “They're _not_ go-go boots.”

  _“Uh-huh,_ if you say so.”

 “At least my clothes aren't older than _myself,”_ he pointed to Lance's jacket.

 Keith watched as Lance looked down, his hands wrapping the jacket closer to himself, his expression turnning down, “This-this was my brother's.”

  _Shit_ , “Oh,” _shit, shit, shit,_ “I didn't know,” Keith said. “I'm so—” he caught himself, squinting at Lance instead as the boys lips lifted into a shit eating grin.

_Damn it._

 “Ha, I got you good.” Lance wriggled his eyebrows, “dude, how old do you think my brother is? this thing is vintage. The look on your _face,_ you looked like you've kicked a puppy.”

 “Because you looked like a kicked puppy!”

 Lance looked too busy laughing to care. Keith shoved him by the shoulder, “ _Jackass.”_ he glared trying to resist Lance's contagious laugh.

 Once he was done, Lance smirked at Keith, “And your clothes might not be older than you, but that hair cut definitely _is.”_ He run his fingers through the back of Keith's hair.

 Keith groaned. _It always goes back to this._

 He face palmed himself, “And here we go again with my hair. What is your problem with my hair?”

 “It's a mullet, Keith. A _mullet!”_

 “It is _not.”_

 “It is,” Lance insisted, “and it's _horrible,_ no Bueno for the ladies.” He shook his head.

 Keith rolled his eyes. They'd had this conversation a thousand times, “Well, good thing I don't give a shit about ladies, _eh?”_

 “Hey,,” Pidge said.

 “Don't be rude, Keith,” Hunk scolded.

 Keith made a dismissive motion, “You know what I mean.” 

 Lance crossed his arms over his chest, “It's still a bad hair cut.”

 Keith rolled his eyes, _again._ A smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Everything about this was so familiar, so comfortable. He doubted Lance would ever let go of mentioning the … _mullet_ and that was, in a way, nice. That it would never change.

 He looked to Pidge as she spoke, “Never thought I'd miss seeing you guys bicker like an old couple.”

 Lance turned to her, “Never thought I'd miss your annoying comments ... oh wait, I _didn't.”_

 She stuck her tongue out at him. A gesture which he returned.

 He looked at Keith, “By the way, red's mad at you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wiggles eyebrows: no bueno for the ladies, but good for you, huh Lance?
> 
> I've been told people don't actually say that in Spanish, but he said it in the paladin's book so I wanted to use it? Sorry :)


	8. Chapter 8

  Keith looked up, “What? Why?”

 Lance raised an eyebrow, “Because you haven't been to visit her yet?”

  _Oh._

 The thing was even after the paladins had switched their lions, Keith could still feel his connection to red. Even after Lance became her paladin Keith could feel her just as much as before, and just as much as black. If he was being honest sometimes even more.

  _Now_ though, things were different. The connection wasn't as strong as before, red's presence didn't consume him. She felt more like a calming warm embrace rather than the burning raging fire. Keith wasn't sure how much if it was Lance affecting red and how much of it was the distance Keith had put between them. He'd been away from her for so long, it made sense for her to not feel for him as much as before. Perhaps that had been the reason he had avoided visiting her: the fear of losing anyone else. He just couldn't afford to lose her.

 But if red was mad at him, that was a-whole-nother story. When Allura had called the red lion temperamental, she was _not_ kidding. Red really was a volatile lion, she threw temper tantrums quite a lot. Keith was just not used to being the cause of her anger, he was usually the one who fired it more.

 The smile took over his lips at the realization that red had been ignoring him because she was being moody, not because he had lost his connection with her. God, she was just like a cat. If only he had a yarn big enough for her to play with.

 “Which is very rude of you if you ask me. Come on, man, when you enter a castle the first thing you should do is pay your respect to the touchy gigantic millennia-old sentient space-cat who could kill us all in less than second or tick or whatever they call it if she wanted to but _nooo,_ you had to—”

  “Lance, shut up,” Keith cut his rant, huffing a laugh, “I'll go see her, alright?”

 Pressing down to the armrest, he stood up, wanting to leave before Lance could start another rant. Keith stopped at the feeling of a hand wrapping aroundhis arm. He turned back to find Lance looking at him, the amusement from a second ago vanished from his face, a furrow and eyes hinted with worry taking its place. Keith looked down at Lance's hand and back to Lance, raising his eyebrow.

 Lance let go of him, biting his lip, “She, she wants you to take her, too.”

 Keith stilled. They both knew who _her_ was. “Red wants to meet ... Krolia?” 

 Lance gave him a small smile, “I don't know, do you consider red nagging me all day to ask you to take her there ‘wanting to meet her’?”

 Keith sighed, rubbing his face. The headache was already taking over. “Fine,” he muttered through gritted teeth, “fine, I'll go get her.”

 “Hey,” Lance tilted his head, getting in his vision, “it's not gonna be too bad. Your mom just wants to meet your other mom.”

His intention of trying to distract Keith was clear in his voice but Keith played along. A distraction was welcomed even for a second. 

 “Red's not my mom.”

 “Uh, dude, she always has to sweep in to save your ass and keep it outta trouble and  shekinda thinks of you as her cub, she's your mom,” Lance smirked, half shrugging, “Sorry man, I don't make the rules.”

 “Yeah, Lance's got a point, she's totally your mom.”

 Hunk's voice was a reminder that they weren't alone. Lance seemed to have that effect on him: make Keith forget about anything and anyone else. Keith shook his head clearing the thoughts.

 “Do you want me to come with?” Lance's voice was quiet. Just loud enough for Keith to hear.

 Keith frowned, “I think I'm capable of walking somebody to the hangers on my _own,_ Lance.”

 Lance held his hands up in a peaceful gesture, “Whoa, hey, never said you weren't.”

 “I just said do you want me to come?”

 His voice was a whisper as gentle as the look in his eyes. It calmed Keith, made him want to say ‘yes _, please’_ but he shook his head.

 “No, it's fine Lance.”

 “Okay,” Lance leaned back on the couch with a smile, “Just make sure red doesn't set her to flames.”

 “I won't make any promises.”

 

  Keith only managed a few steps outside the room before the thoughts crept up on him.

 What was he going to say to her? ‘ _hey, so I can't tolerate your face right now but my lion, which technically isn't even my lion anymore wants to meet you for some reason. She might want to turn you into ash but you mind hitting up the hangers with me anyway?_ ’

 Yeah, he didn't think he should go with _that._ He stopped in his tracks. Maybe he should've let Lance come? After all, He was better with words, _way_ better, and that way Keith wouldn't have to be alone with her or more importantly he didn't have to talk to her. God knows she had been persistant in wanting to talk to him. He should get Lance.

 Deciding it was the best choice, he turned on his heels. Though he didn't need to go far though, his eyes were quick to land on Lance. The boy had made his way to the entrance of the lounge, leaning to the wall, an eyebrow already raised in question at him.

 A nod was all it took for him to pace up to Keith. Keith didn't even question how Lance knew he would change his mind. Lance was good at reading people. Well, at least he was than him.  Even if that used piss Keith off, he'd come to appreciate it. In a way, it made up for Keith's—sucky and frankly lack of—skills in. communication.

 They walked the hallways together in silent— ignoring the sound of Keith stomping each step to the floor. Lance was the one who the broke the silence. Wasn't he always?

 “You know, Red's not gonna force you If you really don't want to do this,” he tilted his head, a small smile on his lips, “neither am I.”

 “It's fine,” Keith's eyes followed the trail of  the turquoise lights on the side of the wall. 

“It really doesn't matter. Red will forget her soon. She'll probably end up leaving in a week or two and won't look back,” He wrapped his hands around himself unconsciously, “We all will forget about her.” 

 “Keith,” Lance's voice was steady, “did you even heard a _word_ I said the other day?”

 Keith had heard it, he had tought on it, he knew Lance was probably right, but none of that lowered his rage which was even more frustrating. He'd worked so hard to learn how to handle his anger. But the slight control over his anger he'd learnt over the last couple of years seemed to be forgotten in the last few days.

 Lance's hand found its way on his shoulder when he didn't say anything, stopping him, “Keith, you don't have to _trust_ her. Just, just give it a chance.”

 Keith looked up, unable to control the rush of the words, “Why? So she'll _leave again?”_

 “She won't.”

 “You don't know that.”

 “Oh, trust me, I _know._ She will not leave unless _you_ want her to.”

 Keith paused, staring into the darkened blue eyes. There was something about the fierce look in them, about the way Lance had said the words; it carried an anger of its own, as though rather than really _knowing_ what he'd said, he would make sure of it.

 And Keith believed him.

 The expression was quick to vanish though, giving its place to a gentle one, “Besides no one who actually gets to know you, could ever leave you.”

 That couldn't be less true. Anyone who'd stuck around enough to know him, had left him, one way or another. Maybe sometimes it had been the very same reason of knowing him that caused them to leave. Keith returned the smile anyway.

 They finally arrived at her room. It was far in the east side of the floor, the farthest it could be from Keith's room. Bless Coran for that. Remind Keith to thank him later. He didn't even get to raise his hands to knock before Lance was banging on the door with both feasts.

 “Yo, Keith's mom 2.0, open up.”

Keith shook hid head at the grin Lance sent him.

 “What the ...”  The door was quick to open, Krolia standing behind it.  She stared at the two of them for seconds before greeting, “Lance, Keith.”

 Keith wasn't sure which one of them she looked more startled to see. She didn't get a chance to voice anything though.

 “Come on, we don't got all day and you've got a lion to meet.” Lance turned on his heel not giving her any room to ask questions. Keith was quick to follow. Krolia's steps followed them.

 “Where are we going, if I may ask?”

 Keith left it to Lance whether he wanted to answer her or not.

 “To meet red, that is short the red lion. She's the, well I can't call her ‘the best’ cause my old gal, blue, might get jealous, but she's definitely the fastest lion.” Lance looked back at Krolia, “she's Keith's lion. Well, was Keith's lion. She's mine at the moment but she's still his too. I don't know, I guess we share custody, or something? Actually it's more like _she_ shares custody of us? I don't know, it's complicated,” Lance shook his head, “Anyway, the point is she is still very protective of Keith so you might wanna leave a good impression.”

 Lance rambled about red the entire way. He looked nervous and uncomfortable which wasn't that common for him if Keith's memory was still working correctly. But who was Keith to judge he could relate to the uncomfortable-ness. He could feel Krolia's eyes on the back if his neck, he ignored it, focusing on Lance’s words instead. 

 Once they arrived Lance greeted red by patting red's nose. Keith stood at the hanger door, admiring her. He had missed her so much, he wished he could be alone with her right now but alas Krolia was behind his heels.

Lance turned around pointing to red with a smile, “Here, she is. The fastest girl in the entire—” he paused, eyebrows furrowing, “uh, Keith, what's wrong with her?”

 Keith followed Lance’s finger, looking back at Krolia. She had taken a step back, a hand infront of her mouth, eyes blown wide. She looked … she looked _scared._

 Keith hadn't seen her scared yet, actually he wasn't even sure she was capable of the feeling. She hadn't looked afraid, not when they got caught, not when they had almost died, she hadn't even faltered. Not even when Kolivan had gotten angry with her for ruining the mission—and trust Keith; Kolivan hasd been terriffying—she hadn't even batted an eye. Seeing her like this was unsettling.

 “Do you think, is red talking to her?”

 Lance's voice made Keith look away from her and to him, “What?”

 “I think red's communicating with her,” Lance wondered.

 “Can other people even hear them?” Keith questioned, returning his gaze to Krolia.

 ‘ _Hear’_  wasn't really the correct word; the lions never actually _spoke_ to them, rather communicating with thoughts, images they inserted in their head, sharing feelings with them.

 “Maybe if they want them to?” Lance suggested. “I mean they're magical giant cats, who knows what they're capable of?”

 Keith hummed, before the frown found its way to his brows, “Can you see what she's showing her?” he was getting nothing from the lion at the moment.

 He saw Lance shaking his head from the corner of his eyes, “No, red's blocking me.”

 “Yeah, me too.”

 “But if that reaction is any indication, I was totally right, she's giving her an ultimatum,” Lance's voice had a ring of amusement to it.

 Minutes passed as they both watched Krolia telepathically talking to their lion. After a while her expression changed from afraid to more relaxed. She took a few steps forward, and in a few minutes she began laughing.

 Keith crossed his atms over his chest, “What do you think red's showing her _now?”_

 “Who knows? Probably dumb memories of you?” Lance snorted, “She keeps doing that to _me._  As funny as they are, she does it at the worst times ever. Seriously man, there's only so many times Shiro's gonna look past me bursting into laughter mid battle.”

  _What?_ What had red been showing to him?

 “You could ask her to stop.”

 “Why would I do that?” blue eyes looked at him with much more than than just mischief. “I missed you, she was being nice.”

 Before Keith could feel warmth in his face,  the mischief took over Lance’s eyes again,  “Besides, they're hilarious. But I gotta say, my all time favourite is definitely the first time you met her.”

_Oh, no._

“Oh god,” Keith placed his hand on his face, “She showed you that?”

 Instead of answering, Lance gestured to himself expression turning mocking, “ _It's me, Keith. Your buddyyy,_ ” he drawled, leaning towards Keith.

Even Keith shoving him by his shoulder and telling him to _shut up_ didn't waver his laughing state or stopped him from continuing.

 “ _I am your paladin! Come on, I'm bonding with you!_ ” Lance snorted into a laughter _within_ his laughter. “You're really obsessed with bonding moments, aren't ya?”

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest, “How would you know?” he huffed.

_You don't even remember._

 Keith might or might not be still salty about that.

 He squinted at red. _I know you can hear me. We're gonna have a discussion about this later. What the hell have you been showing him?_

  A wave of amusement washed over him.

  _Oh, sure, laugh._

 

 After a while Krolia walked to the red lion resting her hand on her nose, she whispered something. Keith couldn't help listening in, even from far away, ‘I promise.’

 “Red trusts her.” Lance stated.

 Keith nodded. 

“Does this mean you'll give her that chance, after all?”

 The lions could see into a persons head, they could their thoughts, read them and if red was letting her that close _that_ easy, it only could mean she trusted what she had seen. And Keith trusted her enough to trust her judgement … hopefully.

 “Fine,” Keith exhaled loudly, “but I won't be nice to her.” He wasn't sure to whom he was threatening that.

 “Of course not,” Lance looked at him with soft eyes, “that's only reserved for those of us with level 20 of your friendship or higher. Others get the mean you.”

 “I'm not mean.”

 “Seriously? _That's_ what you got from that, mullet?” Lance laughed, shaking his head.

 Keith laughed too.

 “Hey, Lance?” he said after a while.

 “What?”

 He smiled, “I think you just leveled up, again.”

 “Keith?”

 Keith was wrong before,  _now_ Lance's eyes were soft, “hmm?”

 “I missed your lame ass sense of humor.”

 Keith wondered how many other times and ways Lance was going to tell him he had missed him, and whether he would say it back.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got mushier than I was planning on, well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> And come on, red would totally do something like that to Lance.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this has already passed 100 kudos? Thanks to everyone who's left one  
> :)

 Not knowing how long the ... _communication,_ or whatever it was going on between red and Krolia, would last, Keith and Lance left the two there, heading back. Lance had promised to help Coran with something so they departed.

 Keith hung in the lounge and then in the bridge for a while heading to his room. He didn't made it to his destination without getting interrupted though. Just a little away from his room, the extra footsteps echoed in the halls. Keith huffed.  _Of course._

 Now, if he hadn't just told Lance otherwise, he would probably ignore her but alas he had, so he turned his head slightly, acknowledging Krolia with a nod. His attempt of taking a step was interrupted by her putting a hand on his shoulder.

 “Keith, can we talk?” she paused, adding a quiet please when Keith narrowed his eyes at her.

Was she serious? It hadn't even been a day since he'd told—yelled at—her to back off. _She_ didn't know he'd had sort of a change of mind, so was she just looking for a redo of yesterday?

 “Keith, I just need to tell you this and then I'll,” she looked down, eyebrows furrowing, “I'll leave you alone as you wished.”

 Keith took a second to consider his options and it actually wasn't a bad deal. Sighing, he nodded, “Alright, come on.”

 He pretended like he didn't notice the smile that took over her features or the quiet thank you.

 Keith walked back to his room. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gestured for her to go on. Yet, She stood silent in the middle of the room, eyes roaming around the empty place. Her eyes ended up glued to the floor quickly. For a moment, Keith was hit with the amount of their similarities. It still didn't sit well with him.

 He ground his teeth. “What do you want to say?” it sounded harsh but since when had she been shy?

 Yellow eyes bore into him as she looked up. He stilled at the reminder of the possibility of him having those ... Keith banished the thought, now was not the time to worry about that.

 “I only wanted to tell you, I don't want your forgiveness.”

 Well, Keith certainly hadn't expected _that._ He scoffed but before he could ask why she was there then she held up her hands.

 “No, that came out wrong.” 

 “What I meant to say was I _won't_ ask for your forgiveness, Keith. Not after what I,” her eyebrows tangled, eyes dropping, “Not after what I did and I know you must've been through a lot—” she cut herself off, shaking her head.

 “Actually, you were right. I _don't_ know but I want to know, Keith. I want to know about you.  I want to know every single detail about your life and I want you to _let_ me. I want you to let me to be a part of your life.”

He sucked in a breath at her pleading tone. She took a step forward.

 “And if that means I have to keep my distance until you can let me, then that's fine with me,” She looked at him with the kind of determination Keith had only seen in the mirror, “because I'm not going anywhere, Keith.  _Never_ again. I only ask of you to let me stay here, let me have a smart part in your life, please.”

 Keith stared at her, he didn't know what to say. Those were things he'd wished for years to hear, but now? Now, what he could think was her reasons had been enough to leave once, what was stopping her from doing it again?

 But if she _wouldn't,_  if they could somehow make this work and that was a big _if,_ wasn't it worth the risk? 

 A part of him said no without a second thought, it wasn't worth getting hurt. But a small voice, which he blamed Lance for, pointed out that he didn't have to trust her right away, he didn't have to put himself at risk _right_ away. That was what she was asking. She wanted to stay long enough for them to get to a place where he could.

 He looked up, taking a breath in, closing his eyes, _don't make me regret this_. He wasn't even sure at whom he was addressing that. _Just please don't make me regret this._  
He looked at her, nodding. “Yeah, okay. I guess you can ... _stay.”_

Krolia eyes lit up, “I won't fail you, not again Keith.”

 He didn't know what to say and she didn't seem to need him to. “Goodnight,” she added walking to the door. She stopped there turning around with a smile, “I'm really glad you don't have a shortage of ones who love you.” 

 Keith stared at the door as it closed after her. He slumped down on the bed. _Now what?_

 Did he do the right thing? Was that the right choice? To let her in? Or maybe he shouldn't have accepted? Maybe it was a bad idea? Actually it _definitely_ was a bad idea. But wasn't it worth the risk if he could have his ... his mom?

 He sighed. The thoughts only had a few minutes to race around his head though. The continuous knocking pulled him out of the spiral. He frowned, sitting up. The sound hadn't come from the door, but the wall next to him.

 He stared at the wall, examining it. His immediate reaction was to think something was wrong with the castle. It wasn't uncommon for castle parts to go off, it was a ten-thousand-year old castle after all. He knocked on a few spots, trying to figure out if there was a pipe or something else going through the wall that had decayed. 

 _Huh,_  that was weird. He could've sworn there was a rhythm to the knocks. It sounded almost like someone was tapping a song on the other side of the wall.

 “Lance?”

 The tapping stopped.

 “Hey. I, um, I kind of overheard you and Krolia,” Lance’s voice came through the wall, “sorry.”

 Keith's and Lance's room were right next to each other, separated by only a wall. And a pretty thin one of it which mean sound travelled pretty easily. Of course not their normal shuffling around the room, but louder noises like when someone was speaking were easy to overhear. Keith had first noticed that pretty early on, hearing Lance sing in his room. He hadn't mention anything though. Sure, it was kind of annoying, but there was something ... adorable about it too. Look, Lance sang with such energy and joy. It was entertaining to hear. It secretly made Keith smile no matter the mood he was in.

 Lance had found out later, _much_ later in their timeline as castle residents. It had been on one of the first weeks after Shiro had vanished. Keith had woken up from a nightmare by someone knocking on his door. It was Lance, asking if he was okay, saying that he'd heard a scream. He hadn't made fun of Keith when he'd, embarrassingly, explained what had happened. If anything he'd been really understanding, even reassuring Keith they all got nightmares and it was okay. He made them both something like hot chocolate after, staying up with Keith talking about anything and everything.

 The memory brought a smile to his lips. He couldn't say he was upset Lance had heard the conversation, not like he could've helped it, and besides this way if Keith wanted to talk about it, he wouldn't have to repeat anything. 

 “It's okay.” He looked at the wall. Their rooms mirrored each other so Lance's bed should be just on the other side of that wall.

 “Oh, good.”

 “And I just wanted to say I'm, I'm proud of you,” Lance added.

 “Why?” 

 “Because of how you handled the talk.”

 “All I said was ‘okay?’” Keith questioned.

 Lance's answer came quick, “And it took a lot to agree to that, so I'm proud of you, man.”

 “Oh,” was all Keith managed to say, trying to not choke on that one word. Lance sounded so caring even from another room. Why wasn't the wall taking some of the softness from his voice? What kind of useless mechanics built this place? This seemed unfair.

 “You okay?”

 “Yeah.”

 “You sure?” Lance asked, “Cause if not I have a perfectly corner on the floor, waiting to be occupied.”

 The smile that took over Keith's face was involuntary and voluntary, “Wow, not even gonna offer the bed?” he teased.

 “Uh, _no?!_ My perfect form can't afford to sleep on the floor.”

 Keith huffed a laugh. Shaking his head even if Lance couldn't see it. “Thanks, I think I'm fine.”

 “Okay.”

 “I can't believe we never did before.” Lance added after some time.

 “Did what?”

 Lance knocked on the wall again, “This. Having conversation through this wall. It seems like such a lost opportunity. We should use it from now. I'm thinking something like a Morse code. Nah, too universal. Maybe we can come up with—”

 “What's wrong with just normal talking?” Keith cut in, sleeping on his side.

 “Uh, it's _boring?”_

 “Well, sorry I'm boring.”

 The answer came after a delay, “Keith, nothing, _nothing_ about you is boring.”

  _Because I'm galra?_

 Keith hadn't meant to say it out loud but apparently he had as Lance answered, “No, I was gonna say cause you're a kickass socially awkward guy who's impossible not to have fun around but sure, that too.”

 Keith didn't answer. Maybe because his face was feeling a little warm.

Lance spoke up again after a minute, “You _sure_ you're okay? Cause if you just don't wanna come over here, I can come there. My perfect form can survive one night on the floor.”

 “You're really looking for a sleepover tonight, aren't you?” Keith smiled, “but no, I'm fine.”

 “Okay, whatever suits your mullet.”

 Their conversation didn't end there. It went on for what felt like forever and yet not long enough. It was light and relaxing. Eventually Lance's voice got more sleepy until it faded away. Keith found himself drifting off right after that. The unconscious part of his brain thinking something between how easy it would be to get used to this and how Krolia had been right, he did have ones who really cared for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at my boys having a pillow talk, even through wall :)
> 
> Sorry this chapter was hella short, I have too much going on at the moment.


	10. Chapter 10

 Lance woke up early. Far too early for his liking, but he was a man on a mission. He was the first to arrive at the kitchen. Now, if only he could remember where he'd put the thing. He looked in a few cabinets it. He was almost finished when Hunk showed up. 

 “Lance,” Hunk looked at him with rounded eyes. To his credit, it wasn't that common for him to see Lance behind the stove. 

 “We thought you're over-sleeping again.” Hunk said, picking up two plates from the cabinet.

 “Nope, just been busy,” Lance poured the contents of the small pot to the mug carefully.

 Hunk looked over curiosity, “Whatcha making?”

 “Coffee.”

 “I _knew_ I smelled something good.” Hunk bent down over table a little, taking the nice aroma in.

 Okay, so Lance could never trust this guy with any kind of edible things. He picked up the mug, putting it on the  counter on other side of him—just in case Hunk got any ideas—before reaching up to search in the shelves. _Come on,_ Coran had said it would be right there. He smiled as he found the tiny packet.

 “Didn't we run out of coffee months ago though?” Hunk asked.

 “Nope.”

 Lance emptied the powder inside the packet into a cup. He added the needed—according to the back of the packet—amount of water to it. A hiss came frome the mixture as it began to bubble up.  _Wow,_ leave it to the aliens to make sticky white liquid look exciting. Okay, so maybe the honour of making that certain looking kind of liquid exciting didn't go to just aliens.

 Lance both cringed and snorted at himself. 

  _“Ooh,”_ Hunk, unaware of Lance's PG rated monologue _—thankfully,_ Lance would rather not think about the lengthy lecture he would've gotten if he had—cheered. He peeked a look at the cup, “What's that?”

  The preparation said to leave it for a few minutes. So Lance left the now frizzling compound on the coounter and leaned back.

 “Milk, or least the aliens' substitute for it.”

 Hunk raised an eyebrow, “Lance, buddy, I know you like the theatrics but you _do_ remember that we have an actual cow to get normal milk from, right?”

 “Of course I do, I would never forget about my beautiful girl.”

 Lance had never once in his life thought he would end up having a _cow_ as pet, but here they were. Then again, he'd never thought he would one day  be fighting purple furries with robotic lions. The cow seemed pretty normal compared to that.

 “But Keith can't have normal milk, remember? And Coran said this thing,” Lance shook the empty packet, “should work as dairy-free.”

 The conversation about what lactose was and why Keith couldn't take it, had been a long one. It had almost taken an hour of Lance's time to explain that to Coran yesterday. But he supposed it was worth it.

 Hunk's eyebrows went even higher, “Man, I keep forgetting, you know everything about Keith, huh?”

 There teasing was clear in his tone. Lance gave him a glare. It was too early in the day to even go _there._

 It didn't seem to have the wanted effect though, as Hunk added, “You're not gonna draw hearts on it, are you?”

 Lance gave him another squint of the eyes, _“No.”_  He picked up the mug.  _Wait,_ that actually wasn't a bad idea, not hearts obviously.

 Lance smiled satisfyingly at the results once he was done with the results. He joined the others in the dining room along Hunk.

 He smiled while entering, “Well, I'm finally  here, you all may start your day now.”

 “Yes, 'cause we were all keeping it on hold,” Allura mocked.

 “Of course you were. I'm essential to anyone's day,” he winked at her.

 She snorted, shaking her head.

 Lance took the seat next to Keith, setting the mug on the table. It was probably the grin that was covering half of Lance's face that made Keith pause from eating his goo and look at him. As Lance's grin stayed, he raised an eyebrow.

 “Okay, what've you got there?”

 “Oh, nothing, just _coffee,”_ Lance gushed.

 Keith's eyes rounded, “Actual coffee?”

 “Well no, it's not _actual_ coffee. We found something that had the same effects on a planet a few months ago and Hunk helped adding the taste—”

 “Oh my god, who cares?” Pidge cut his explanation off, “I've wanted some for _so_ long. I thought we ran out.”

 “Nope,” Lance drawled the ‘p’, “I hid a secret stash for emergencies.”

 “Where?” Pidge demanded.

 Lance raised an eyebrow, “It wouldn't be a secret stash if I told you, now would it?” he said, fending her off, because _yes,_ the gremlin was actually bending half way over the table trying to snatch the cup.

 “Oh, _come on,_ gimme it and how does this count as an emergency?”

Lance gestured to Keith, “This guy hasn't had coffee since we left earth. It's an emergency, okay?” He pushed the mug towards Keith, “Go on. Try it.”

 Keith complied, Picking up the cup with both hands. Looking inside, he huffed a small laugh at Lance, “Really, a poker face?” he pointed his eyebrows over the milky design.

 Lance grinned, “What? I feel like that describes your personality perfectly.”

 Keith shook his head, whispering ‘dumbass’ under his breath. Lance graciously decided to pretend he didn't hear it.

 As soon as Keith took the first sip, Lance leaned forward, “So?” 

  “So?” 

 “How does it taste?”

 “Like coffee?” Keith said, rather dully.

  _“Keith,”_ he complained.

 Keith shrugged, “What? It tastes like coffee.”

 Lance pouted, apart from the small smile Keith had, which had been there from before, nothing in his expression had changed.

 “Could you possibly show less enthusiasm?” Lance couldn't help but feel deflated. Actually, He felt like a balloon that'd flown half way through the sky only to get blown off by a bullet and Keith definitely held the shot gun.

 It was coffee, how could someone not be excited by that?

 “It's coffee? How much enthusiasm should I show?” Keith questioned.

 “Way more than you are right now,” Lance crossed his hands over his chest, feeling his shoulders slumping.

 “I think you're making a big deal out of this.”

 “No, you're not making a big _enough_ deal out of it.”

 Keith raised his eyebrow, “It's just coffee?” 

  _“_ Just coffee? _Just coffee?!_ ” 

 Keith leaned back on his chair, moving away from Lance, probably because of Lance's loud screech.

 But _just_ coffee?

 Hunk made a laugh, intervening, “I should explain. Coffee is like Lance's favourite thing,  _ever._  God, he used to drink at least five cups everyday back on earth. I was this close,” he his index finger over his thumb, “to throwing him an intervention. It's like it's his first love or something.”

 He was joking, but it really wasn't far from the truth. Things Lance was willing to give to have coffee from back home right now. Cuban coffee, not the useless one from Garrison's cafè.

 “No wonder Keith doesn't like it. It's like he's meeting Lance's ex,” Pidge whispered to Hunk behind a hand, not so quietly.

 Lance sent a glare towards her, before sending one towards Keith who looked too amused to care.

 The black haired boy shrugged, “Well, sorry if I'm not expressing enough emotions about coffee. I mean what do you expect me to say?”

 “I don't know, what would you say if it was, I don't know,” _what was it?_  Lance rubbed a finger over his forehead. _Oh yeah_ , “green tea or something instead?”

 Keith raised an eyebrow, “Probably ‘why does this tea taste like coffee?’”

 “Oh, sure, _now_ you get funny,” Lance squinted at him as he laughed. “you know what? You don't like it, I take it back.”

 He reached to pick the mug up but Keith was faster. 

 “No,” the mullet smirked.

 _Oh no,_ Lance was way too familiar with that smirk, it was usually followed by Keith being an absolute little shit, and usually to Lance.

 “What do you mean ‘No’?you don't want it, I'll drink it myself.”

 Lance reached again but Keith moved the mug farther.

 “Nope, it's mine.”

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, “but you don't even like it.”

 “It's _mine,”_ Keith pressed, “it was made to match my personality and it's mine.”

“Well, you didn't appreciate it, you don't get to keep it.”

 Keith only stuck his tongue out at him.

 Was he serious?

Well, his funeral _._ Lance grew up with three older siblings. Everything was a war of tug at their house.

 Placing a grip on Keith's chair, he leaned over to reach Keith's hand. He ignored the fact that he was very much in Keith's personal space, not like he could feel Keith's breath ghost over his skin as they struggled over the mug. Not at all.  “Give it.”

 “Nope.” 

 “Yup.” 

 “Nuh-uh.” Keith chuckled, wriggling his brows. Lance managed to get a grip over the mug, but clearly Keith was not planning on letting. 

 “ _Yuh-uh.”_

 “ _Nuh-uh.”_

 They kept going on. In the end it was neither Pidge's ‘ _I can't believe I'm sharing a castle with actual five year old’,_ nor Hunk's repeated warnings of ‘ _guys’_  that stopped them, but Shiro's rather pained cry.

  _“Ow!”_

 Lance immediately retreated at the voice. _Crap,_ neither he or Keith had paid any attention to the fact that the cup had gotten lopsided in Keith's attempt of keeping it out of Lance's hand. The coffee inside it now lay partly on the floor, partly on the empty chair next to Keith and partly on Shiro's leg next to it. Lance thanked god the it had at least had some time to cool off before.

 Hunk shook his head, “Yup, just what I was afraid of.”

 “Shit, sorry Shiro.” Lance said.

 “Yeah, sorry,” Keith added.

 Shiro didn't bother to look up, busy drying his pants with the napkin. His frown was very clearly there though, “Clean that up,” he pointed to the chair.

 “Yes, sir,” Lance saluted. He made a quick trip yoo the kitchen to picking up a towel before sitting down on the floor. Keith came to help him by dry the chair.

 “Sorry, that was dumb,” he whispered.

  _“Nah,_ that was probably the most fun I've had in a while,” Lance assured. 

 Keith's only reply was the upward tug at the corner of his lips.

 “Though where did the green tea came from?”

 “Huh?” 

 “Green tea, it's my favourite. Did you know or just…?” he questioned.

 “Lucky guess?” Lance shrugged a shoulder  he made sure to avoid Keith's eyes. _Yeah, right,_ lucky guess. Ain't nothing about him knowing it got to do with _luck._

 “Just seemed so random,” Keith said but he seemed to accept it.

 They were just finished cleaning up, sitting back on the table when Shiro spoke up again, “Well, since you're already doing cleaning, you might as well take the dishes too.”

 “What?” Lance complained, “Oh, come on, it's Pidge's turn. I was on dish duty last week.”

 “And you'll be on it this week too, maybe it'll teach you some manners.”

 “That's not _fair,”_ Lance protested. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to be too upset about it because for a moment Shiro looked like his dad self, his _old_ self … _don't start._ His brain scolded.

 He still wasn't above pouting and crossing his arms over his. And what yhe hell was Keith grinning about like that? Lance threw the napkin at his face.

  _“Hey.”_

 “Wipe that smirk off your face. If I'm on dish duty, you're on dish duty, too.”

 He ducked the dirty napkin Keith tossed back at him, sticking his tongue out at Keith.

  _At least he seems to be in a good mood._ Lance thought. He hadn't thought he would be. Not after what happened with Krolia last night. He was expecting a pouty, closed off Keith. But they had spent hours talking after that, Lance liked to think that was why Keith was in such a good—playful—mood.

 “Says who?” Keith quirked an eyebrow.

 “Uh, says Shiro?” Lance raised his eyebrow in mirror.

 “Funny, I didn't hear him say that.”

 They both looked to the man already stepping off the table.

 “I thought that was obvious.”

 Lance gave the pouting Keith a victorious smirk, one that stayed on his face as they picked up the plates heading to the kitchen. The castle had a washing system, so all they really had to do was put the leftovers in the disposal and put the plates in the machine.

 They hadn't even done one plate before Pidge showed up adding two more to the pile.

  _“Pidge,”_ Keith scowled.

 “What?” Pidge raised her shoulders innocently, “I suddenly have the urge to eat as much goo as possible in as many dishes as possible.”

 “Okay, why are you being a little shit?” Lance squinted at her, “Wait, correction: why are you being a more-than-the-usual little shit?” 

 She glared at him, “You mean _beside_ the fact that you kept fucking  _coffee_ from me?”

 “oh, yeah, that.”

 Pidge glared at him even harder, Lance had to hold back his laugh.

 “Well, since he doesn't want any, you can have some.” He pointed to the box he'd left on the counter.

  _“Yes!”_ Pidge pumped her fist. She grabbed the box, already running out the door.

 “Hey, wait a second, half of it is still mine. Hey, get back in here.” Lance yelled at no one.

 He shook his head. He should probably get that back from her later. Assuming she hasn't finished it by then. There was still enough powder left for around like ten cups, but honestly Lance knew Pidge was capable of consuming all that by night. It had happened before. The result was never pretty, Pidge turned into a little monster when she was running on caffeine alone.

 “So, did you really saved that all this time for me?” Keith asked handing him one of the plates.

 “No, I saved it for the _other_ Keith that hasn't been to the castle for months.” Lance answered, trying not to wrinkle his nose as he emptied the leftover goo in the plate with a little too much force. Just a little. Definitely not enough force to cause what Keith said next.

 “Lance, are you ... angry about that?”

 Lance almost dropped the plate in his hands to the trash. How had he noticed?

 Yes, obviously Lance was upset about Keith leaving, but with everything elsegoing on, he didn't think it was something he should mention. Keith wasn't one to notice these things unless you mentioned it, and even if he did notice, he usually didn't bring it up.

 Besides, Lance was usually good at hiding things he didn't want others to know about. Had he let something out unconsciously? or had Keith just been paying that much attention? 

 Lance turned around, giving Keith a smile, “Of course not, what gave you _that_ idea?” so he felt a little bad for faking it, but Keith had so much on his plate right now. Lance shouldn't add to the pile. He could always be mad at Keith later, when things were more settled.

_If he's still here by then._

 Keith tilted his head, looking at him with analytical eyes. He ended up frowning and looking down without a word.

 Lance decided to move on, well _kind of_ , “Bet there's no cleaning the dishes at the Blade.”

 “No,” Keith answered the frown still sitting deep in his eyebrows. It decreased after a second, “Though I take cleaning dishes over eating the food there _every day.”_

“It's _that_ good, huh?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

 Keith frown was completely forgotten now, he looked up, “Lance, it tastes _worse_  than Coran's goo.”

 “What? No way!”

  _Nothing_ tasted worse than that goo. 

  _“Yes_  way. It's blue and sticky and it tastes a thousand times more horrible than the goo.” Keith's face scrunched up in a way which Lance found impossible not to laugh at.

 “Wow, they've made something worse than the goo. Now _those_ are the kind of terrifying people I wanna fight alongside.” 

 Keith frowned, “We-they're not _terrifying.”_

 “Keith,” Lance said in a tone that made the other boy look up. He smiled, “I didn't mean it at a bad thing. Marmorites are badass.”

 Keith's both eyebrows shot up, “You think Blades are badass?”

  _“Duh.”_

 “But I'm a Blade?”

 Lance almost burst out laughing, Keith looked so shocked. Aw, Did he really doubt his badassness? had he _met_ himself? A look in the mirror would be enough. 

 “Yup.” Oh, that was nice subtle shade of red that took over Keith's face. Lance couldn't help himself, “the shortest one.”

 Keith scoffed, “I am  _not_ the shortest one.”

 “Really?” Lance raised am eyebrow, “Name _one_ person there shorter than you.”

 Keith opened his mouth, only to close it into a pout. Lance couldn't help teasing him further, “really though, how are you this short? It's like the galra genes skipped over you or something.”

 “Isn't that a good thing?” Keith mumbled under his breath. 

 “What?”

 “Nothing,” Keith looked up with a frown, “I'm going to train.”

 Lance stared at him as he left, thinking what was it he'd said this time that drove him off. He shrugged, finishing the plates before going to the training room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is practically me projecting my love for coffee to Lance.
> 
> I miss Keith teasing Lance in the show so much, hopefully we see the return of it in season 6 :)


	11. Chapter 11

Lance switched his bayard to blaster mode, aiming for the flying the drones. One after another they crashed to the training room's floor. There was no time for celebrating the small victory with anything more than the smirk that curved his lips as the sparring bot was back on its feet again, charging at him. He changed the bayard back to the broadsword to block the attack. 

 He didn't usually fight like _this—_ using the combination of all forms of his bayard—He wanted to first master the sword alone and then get to that. But once in a while his curiosity and excitement got the better of him. Today was like that—it might have a correlation to Keith's earlier good mood. It wasn't Lance's fault that Keith's rare happy moods were contagious, _okay?_ —so he'd decided to experiment with his training. 

 He still was figuring out the reaction time issue:  he stood defenceless for the few moments it took his bayard to change forms. But he was quite satisfied with his performance today, and he had been at this since morning so he decided it was time for a break. He turned to head for his water bottle sitting next to the deck when he noticed something moving in the corner of his eyes.

 “What the ...?”

 Lance refused to accept how embarrassingly high he'd yelped, specially after realising the ‘something’ was Krolia. _Great job._  She was gonna think he was a coward or something. He needed to stop leaving bad impressions on her.

 She held her hands up, walking towards him, “Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you in the middle of your training.”

 Lance tried to collect himself, “It's fine.”

 “Actually, it's better than fine. I was gonna come look for you,” he added after a second.

 “Oh?” 

 He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, looking down from her raised eyebrows, “I, uh, I wanted to apologize, for the other night.”

 Lance wasn't sorry he'd said those things to her because she _needed_ to hear them. He still got pissed thinking about her even considering to leave. But he had realized it wasn't _his_ place to say all that to her or to yell at her. Not to mention how rude and of the line he'd been. Mama had raised a well mannered boy. He _had_ to apologize.

 Even if technically he wasn't really sorry.

 “Lance, There's really no need.”

 “Of course there is—” he caught himself when she held up a hand.

 “We both know everything you said to me was well deserved. I can't believe I was going to,” her eyebrows knitted as her jaw tightened, “it was a moment of weakness on my side and I would've regretted it if you had let me leave. If anything I'm grateful that you didn't.”

 “Yeah, but I was rude—”

 “Lance,” she cut in, “You have nothing to apologise for. I get it. You were looking after him. That just gives me another thing to be grateful for.”

 “Oh,” Lance said, not having anything else to say under the intensity of her gaze.

 Her smile that followed helped him regain his composure. He grinned, putting one hand on his chest.

“Still, I didn't have to ba a jerkface about it. My mom would have a heart-attack,”—his mom would _tear him a new one_ if she knew he'd said the f word to one of his friends' mom, but Krolia didn't need to know that, so heart attack it was—“if she knew I treated a respectful lady such as yourself like that. Please forgive me, Madam Kogane,” he bowed down—what? A little theatrics never killed anyone.

 Krolia only responded with a cough, holding a hand in front of her mouth, but Lance knew better. He'd seen Keith cover up his laughs while doing the very same thing. Besides, the shine in her eyes was betraying her. Well then, seemed like they'd burried those hatchets. 

 “So why did you say you were here again?” 

 “I wanted to ask a few things about Keith.”

 The answer came abrupt and quick. Direct to the point, just like her son. Lance would've smiled if he wasn't shocked by the words.

 Perhaps she noticed that as she added, “I know nothing about him.”

 “Wait, nothing?” He narrowed his eyes at her, “didn't you guys talk at the Blade? 'Cause he told me you did.” 

 “No, no, we ... talked.”

 “But?” he asked. 

 “But not about him. He talked about Voltron and the blade and you and everyone here _._ He told me about everything but— _”_

 “But him,”  Lance finished. He sighed when she nodded, “Yeah, he would do that.”

 “I just want to know more about him,” she said in a wistful tone.

 He had gathered as much from her talk with Keith last night but still he couldn't help questioning, “And you came to _me?”_  

 She looked down, “I don't want to pressure Keith, he just accepted me. I'm afraid if I ask for more ...” she trailed off.

 Lance understood that, still her next option logically should've been Shiro. “But why not Shiro? He's known Keith for years. They're practically brothers. If you want to know anything about Keith, he's your guy.”

 “Yes, _Shiro_ ,” She repeated the name like she was testing the word. Her lips thinned into a line, “I don't know how to put this, but I'm not very sure about him. I can't say I trust him very much. I just don't see how  _he_ is the man I've heard so much about.”

  _Well, she knows what's up._

_Enough._

 Lance frowned, both at his own mind and at her, “Well, the first thing you should know about Keith is that if you have an issue with Shiro, you're gonna have an issue with him,” He said in an stern tone, _“and_ the rest of us, too. Shiro's our leader. How would you feel if I said I don't trust Kolivan?”

 “Think you're a smart guy?” she shrugged a shoulder.

 Was that a ... joke?

 Lance shook his head, “I'm serious. Shiro's ... Shiro is _family”—after_ everything they've been through together Lance considered everyone on the team family, even when they made it hard to admit—“you can't talk about him like that.”

 Yellow eyes bore into him but Lance held his ground until she finally nodded.

 “Noted,” she said, rather dryly.

 “I _mean_ it, you'll lose Keith if you want to pull something against Shiro, and you won't be getting any help from me either—”

  _“Alright,”_ she held up her palms in peace, “lesson learned. Shiro is a saint.”

 Her sarcasm wasn't appreciated but Lance didn't know her enough to know how to change her mind. If she stuck around enough— _which she will,_ Lance would make sure of it—she would see what a great man Shiro was.

 “Still, he's not the one who came yelling at me not to _dare_ hurt Keith.”

 Krolia's voice had equal amounts of amusement and appreciation. Lance avoided her gaze, scratching the back of his head. He could feel his face warm up a degree or two. _Can't believe I actually did that._

 The chuckle made him look up. She just didn't seem like the type to chuckle. “Should I take that as a yes to telling me more about him?” she asked with an amused face.

 “Well, no.”

 He explained further, “Sorry, I have to make sure Keith is okay with it, first.” 

 The line between her eyebrows disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, “Of course, I wouldn't expect any thing else.”

 She took a gaze at the door and back at him, “In that case, I should probably let you get back to your training. I'm quite impressed with it, by the way.”

 Lance narrowed his eyes at her. Was she making fun of him?

 “I've seen how the blade fight. That was nothing?” 

 She frowned, “It wasn't nothing. It takes a very high amount of coordination to use two different weapons like that. And if I recall correctly Keith never mentioned you having a sword, so that must be new. To have gained that much control over a new weapon in such short time is certainly not nothing.”

 Lance blinked owlishly at her; she was quite perceptive, wasn't she _?_

The Keith part, though.

 “So,” he drawled the word, “what exactly did he say about me?”

 His voice didn't came out as casual as he wanted it to.  
  
 “I mean I know you said he talked about everyone”— _‘specially you’_   that part had stuck with Lance—“but I feel like he probably was being sarcastic about the me part? Cause like, there's just no way he said the stuff you said the other day about me?” Lance added.

 Krolia smiled. The kind of smile that made Lance hyper aware of how fast he'd asked all that and how many hand gestures he'd used. By the way the answer was _too_ many.

“Lance, let me reassure you,  _every_ word he said about you, and trust me, there were a lot of words, and I mean _a lot_ ,  was a compliment.” 

 “Really?”

 The words flew out of Lance's mouth without his permission. He lowered his head, raising his shoulders to hide his ear as could feel the blood rushing there immediately. Krolia's response was to nod ... and laugh.

 She seemed to be done with the conversation. Shaking her head,  she made her way to the door. She stopped there, looking back.

 “If there is any more of that coffee left, can I have some?”

 Lance’s eyebrows shot upwards.

 “What?” she shrugged, “I really miss the taste.”

 “Miss anything from earth really,” She whispered as an after-thought.

  Well, he could understand that.

“Yeah, of course.” 

 She gave him a small smile before leaving.

* * *

  
 Keith panted as he raced after the gladiator. He was fully aware he was using too much force, but he couldn't pull his punches.

 His earlier meeting with Shiro had put him at an unease. Shiro was just so 

_... different._

 Shiro had been acting distant towards him since Keith had joined the blade—actually now thinking back on it, Shiro had had started acting like that even before that. Wasn't that part of the reason Keith had left?—At the time, Keith had thought _that_ was the reason, that Shiro was mad at him for the choice he'd made to leave the team. He'd continued to think so while he was with the Blade.

 It was in the way Shiro acted; the numerous frowns, the dismissive tone, the disagreeing attitude. They were all things Shiro did when he was upset at Keith or disappointed in him. 

  _Now,_ Keith didn't think so anymore; after spending a few days back, he had seen how Shiro treated everyone, some more than the others, else like that too.

 The man had appeared to be in a better state this morning, so Keith had decided to have a talk with him. He'd found Shiro in the bridge, going through some coded information;

 

 

>  “Keith,” Shiro acknowledged him with a nod.
> 
>  “Hey,” Keith walked to a pillar near him, leaning against it. He crossed his arms, trying to make sense of the jumble of the open tabs on the screen. 
> 
>  “So, Krolia, huh?”
> 
>  Keith frowned.
> 
> _Only took him three days to finally bring it up._
> 
>  “Is she planning on staying?” 
> 
>  Of all the things Keith had thought Shiro would say,  _that_ wasn't really one. He shrugged, “I don't know.”
> 
>  “She says she is staying as long as I am,” he added after a second.
> 
>  Shiro hummed, not even bothering to stop looking at the panel. “And how long is that?”
> 
>  Keith stilled. His hands dropped from his chest to his sides, “Is there a problem with me being here?” his voice came out quiet.
> 
>  “What? No,” Shiro instantly looked up from the panel.
> 
>  For a moment dark grey eyes looked at Keith with the same amount of concern as they used to when he was younger and he got into trouble. He always showed up, no matter how much of a mess Keith had made and the first thing he always asked was if Keith was okay, like it didn't matter that Keith had punched someone else or had gotten himself and thereby Shiro into trouble, but all that mattered was Keith would be _okay._
> 
>  Shiro took a step towards him, “Why would you think that?”
> 
>  Before Keith could answer, not that he had any answers beside ‘I don't know,’ he continued.
> 
>  “I just want to know how to plan the missions. I need to know if we can have you helping out or not.” 
> 
> “Oh.” 
> 
> “So?” Shiro raised an eyebrow. 
> 
> “I don't know, Kolivan didn't tell me.” Keith shrugged his shoulder.
> 
>  Shiro sighed. A frown forming in between his eyebrows as he returned to his work, “I'll ask him later.”
> 
>  Keith took that as a dismissing motion. He was halfway on his way to exit where the question crawled its way out of him, “Shiro, are you ... okay?”
> 
>  “I'm fine.” 
> 
>   _Doesn't look like it._ Keith couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt wrong. Was it about ...?
> 
>  He took a step forward, “Are you sure? You just,” he hesitated. Should he bring it up? He didn't want to hurt Shiro with possible horrible memories. “never said anything about what happened to you when you were ... gone and I just wanna make sure—”
> 
>  He was caught off by the feeling of a mechanical hand on his shoulder.
> 
>  “Keith, I'm okay. I didn't say anything because I don't really remember much and I'm guessing that's  probably for the best.” 
> 
>  Shiro smiled down at him, “Don't worry, you won't have to rescue my ass again.”
> 
>  “Like I said, I'll do it as many times as you need me to.” Keith smiled back.
> 
> “But I'm not opposed to putting some trackers on you. It would make my job of looking for the six year old who keeps getting lost much easier.”
> 
>  “Yeah, yeah,” Shiro, took back his hand, but not before giving him a shove towards the door, “Get outta here, kid. I've got work to do.”
> 
>  Keith huffed a laugh, walking out the bridge. He stopped outside, taking another look with a small frown. It was nothing but Shiro never took it kindly when Keith mentioned his birthday. He shook his. It was nothing.

  Keith wasn't sure _why_ the meeting had left him unsettled, but it did. So yes, Keith was in the training room unloading his unsettlement at the poor bot. 

 “Whoa, how did you do that?”

_What the ...?_

 Keith turned on his heels to land eyes on the cause of the words. Lance was standing at the door looking at him with ...

 So Keith was definitely imagining things with everyone today. That couldn't be _awe_  plastered all over Lance’s face. Or could it? The smile was automatic as he ended the training sequence, “Lance, hey.” 

 “How did you do that?” Lance repeated, walking towards him.

 “Did what?”

 “The swingy kicky thing at the end,” Lance made a motion with his hand and leg.

 Keith raised an eyebrow.

 “What?” Lance huffed a laugh, “not like you know the name of _every_ move you do.”

 He seemed to hesitate the statement after it left him. He narrowed his eyes at Keith, “You don't, do you? 'Cause if you do then you're bringing a whole new level of _boring_ to training, mullet.” 

 Keith rolled his eyes. Not why he was questioning it.  “Why do you wanna know?” 

 His tone came out more suspicious than he intended to but Lance never asked anything about fighting hand to hand. In fact there were ocassions where he had started singing, sticking his fingers in his ears—like a five year old— just not to hear Keith talk about close combat. Now he was asking, on his own accord? 

 Lance squinted at him, tilting his head to the right. He studied Keith for a few seconds before a smirk took over his features, “Oh, wow.” 

“Oh, _wow,”_ he repeated this time a laugh accompanying the words. “You're in for _quite_ the surprise, buddy.”

 Keith sent him a questioning look.

 “Not telling you now. _Later,_ I wanna savor the stupid look on your face. I have a feelling it'll be something to remember,” Lance chuckled to himself.

 Yeah, after everything they had seen and everything that had happened to them Keith doubted that _very_ much. Surprises were quite the daily routine for him these days.

 “So, how did you do it?”

 Keith shrugged, “Do you want me to do it again or—”

 “Would you?” 

 Keith stared at the way Lance had beamed up at the suggestion.  “I mean sure. Yeah.”

 Yeah, like he could say no to a smile as big as the one occupying Lance's lips.  He returned to the deck, setting the training and repeating what he'd done earlier. It consisted of a few techniques he'd learned at the Blade. Lance's cheer arrived as soon as he was finished.

 “ _Holy shit,_ Keith, don't take this the wrong way but that was so cool.” 

  Keith wasn't sure how he would take that the wrong way and he really didn't care, because _fuck_ Lance’s eyes sparkled, actually sparkled when he said that. Lance had grown much more generous with complimenting Keith later in their time in the castle but ever since he'd returned the compliments felt different, even more sincere—or perhaps Keith had simply forgotton how they felt while he'd been away—and if Keith was being honest, he relished on them. 

 Lance made him redo it a few times, watching his moves with focus. He asked a few questions here and there. Keith couldn't bring himself to say _no_ to him; he looked so excited.

 Why exactly did he look so excited?

 “Thanks, man.” Lance said in the end.

 Keith was still unsure of what just went on but he smiled all the same, “Sure.”

 “We should probably go get dinner.” He added. He really didn't want Coran to complain about him being late to meals again.

 The smacking sound made him look to Lance: He had face palmed himself.

 “Shit, can't believe I forgot. I kinda came here to tell you something,” Lance paused, tilting his head at Keith. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth before pouting, “I'm not sure I want to though, you're in a good mood.”

 Keith tried not give the fact that he only got the good mood _after_ Lance had showed up too much thought.

 “But I have to. And you should probably start getting used to her getting brought up.” Lance continued.

 Her? Keith frowned, “Krolia?” _What_ now?

 Lance nodded, “Yeah, she came to see me. She wanted to ask a few things about you?”

 “What? Why wouldn't she just ask me?”

 Lance raised his eyebrow, “I'm gonna go ahead and guess probably because you look like you want to run the other way everytime she as much as enters the room?”

 “Fair enough,” Keith admitted reluctantly.

 “So, um, should I?” 

  Keith raised his eyebrow.

 “Answer her, I mean.” Lance explained.

  _Wait_ ... Keith narrowed his eyes at him, “Are you asking me for permission?”

“I mean yeah, kind of?” Lance shrugged his shoulder,

 “I think you should, though. She should at least know a few things about you. You are her _son._ But if you're not comfortable with it ...” he trailed off.

 Keith stared at him, “So if I say no, you really won't tell her anything?”

 The answer came without delay, “Of course not. If you don't want me to, I won't. It's your choice.”

 There was no hesitation in those blue eyes and Keith found himself getting pulled by the swirl of emotions. Many of which involved him wanting to hug Lance and not let go anytime soon.

 Lance was giving him the choice, no judgement, no push. Sure, it might seem like a small thing but it meant so much. It was respecting him and his boundaries. Keith rarely got that from people. 

 Still, Keith wasn't sure he wanted Lance to talk to her but he'd said he would give this a try and he should.

 “You can.” 

 Lance smiled nodding.

 “Just don't tell her anything too personal,” he added.

 “Dude, do I even _know_ anything too personal about you?”

 Keith was a little taken aback by the words. He could tell Lance had meant that as a joke but there was more in his tone.

 Perhaps Lance noticed it too.

 “It's okay, I get it. you're a private guy.”

 “But mark my words, Kogane,” he smirked as he leaned in towards Keith, flicking his temple with one finger, not ungently, “one day I'm getting inside that mysterious head of yours.”

Keith gave him a glare rubbing the spot with a hidden smile. They'd passed that _one day_ some time ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love, _love_ , the idea of Krolia and Lance becoming friends. She definitely approves of him as her future son in law ;)


	12. Chapter 12

 Lance picked up the mugs up by the handles; two in one hand and one in the other. He had a history of breaking cups while moving them like this, a history that Hunk never failed to mention.But he really didn't want to make the trip twice.

 He'd eventually managed to retrieve the remaining of the coffee powder from Pidge's thieving hands after chasing her around the castle. Not that he'd actually managed to catch her. Oh _no_ , even with her very short legs—which Lance occasionally enjoyed reminding her of. Just _occasionally—_ she was a gremlin who could run like hell. But after half an hour of Lance chasing after her, she had shown a rare case of mercy and let him have it.

 He smiled as he entered the dining room. A quirt chatter was surrounding the table. Thankfully, the meals weren't spent as awkward as they used to a couple days earlier.

 He slid one the mugs over the table to Pidge, and the other to Krolia, ignoring Hunk's gasp and Coran's warnings. 

 Krolia caught it, smiling at him, “Thank you.”

 Lance nodded, flumping on his place next to Keith. The grin was automatic when he noticed the rounded eyes Keith was using to look at the cup in Krolia's hands.

 “Yeah, that's right. She ain't a heathen like you.”

 Keith seemed to be trying to deal with Krolia better. Maybe to outsider eyes he wasn't acting any different towards her but not to Lance’s. It was in the tiniest things Keith did. For instance, last night at dinner when she asked him to pass her the plate, Keith hadn't scowled at her like she was the scum of ... space. So you know: tiny steps. Lance considered each a progress, therefore he allowed himself to tease.

 Keith took it fairly normal; He rolled his eyes, “Let it go, Lance. How was I supposed to know Coffee is on your offense list?”

 “My what?” 

 Keith froze, looking at him with curved eyes. Okay, he definitely hadn't meant to say that, at least not out loud. He leaned back on his chair, looking down. “Uh, your offence list. List of things you get offended by way too easily.”

 “It's a long list,” he added after a pause, with a different tone.

 Lance frowned, putting down his mug on the table with a little too much force. He ignored Pidge's smart ass voice of ‘Actually, that's _not_ what an offence list is.’ 

 “I don't get offended way too easily.” 

 Keith huffed something that sounded far too close to a laugh for Lance's liking.

 “Okay.” 

 “I do _not_ get offended way too easily.” 

 “Okay, you don't.” 

 As if his tone on its own wasn't enough, there was a subtle smirk riding the corner of his lips. Lance squinted at him, pointing his index finger to his face, “I _don't.”_  

 “Really?” Keith questioned, “cause you're getting offended about getting offended.”

 “I am _not,”_ Lance answered, in a relatively high voice, even to his own ears.

 Keith only raised an eye brow.

 “Shut up.”

  Lance might or might not have pouted as he crossed hus arms over his chest.

 “Alright, adding coffee _and_ offence list to the list.”

  _“Shut_ up,” Lance elbowed the very smirking boy next to him in the side before turning to Krolia..

 “Second thing you should know about Keith is that he's a grade A asshole.”

 He glared at the asshole, who had the audacity to laugh in return. Krolia’s voice pulled his attention from considering to elbow Keith in the ribs again.

 “Are they always like this?”

 The question seemed to be asked _about_ him and Keith, rather than _from_ them.

 “Oh, _yeah,”_ Pidge drawled.

 A devilish grin appeared on her face as she continued, “Well, I'm assuming you're referring to them arguing like an old married couple. Unless you meant them bickering  when the rest of us are trying to eat in peace in which case, the answer would still be a yes.”

 “ _Pidge_ ,” Lance glowered at her while the rest of the table minus one other laughed. He normally let her be. Even if he'd hoped she would forget about her annoying commentsafter all these months, he knew, from personal experience and from the reaction his little shit nephews used to sjow that reacting to her would only feul the fire. So he usually tried to ignore her, in hopes of her letting it go. But it was another story when she ... _suggested_ things in front of Krolia. That was Keith's mom. That was just weird.

 Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.  

 

 It was around the end of the breakfast when the question was pressuring his brain too much for him to keep it in. Come on, he had to ask. 

 “You don't _really_ have an offence list on me, do you?” he whispered to Keith.

 “No,” Keith answered in an equal quiet voice. He didn't look up from his plate, but the corner of his lips did.

 “Oh my god, you _totally_ do.”

 Keith shrugged.

 Lance couldn't decide he felt pissed about it or thought of it as caring. He knew Keith struggled with people, and he could imagine him keeping a mental list on others, trying not to to make more sense of them, trying not to bother anyone. Yeah, Lance couldn't be mad at him about that.

 He ended up asking, “Is it really that long? The list?” Did he really get offended that much?

 Keith looked up at him with a little frown, eyes searching Lance's face for something, before finally saying, “Nah, I wasn't being serious.”

 Lance wasn't really sure he believed that.

 

 As usual he went to the training room after breakfast. He hadn't spent much time when Allura showed up. Lance ended the training sequence upon noticing her. He turned to her, bowing down theatrically, holding the sword in his hand over his chest, “Your highness.”

 His jaw dropped to the floor when Allura curtsied just as theatrically and, well, mockingly, “You may stand, oh valiant knight.”

 Lance raised an eyebrow, actually both eyebrows. What just happened?

 Allura shrugged, “What? If you can play, I can play.”

 Hard to argue with that logic. “Fair enough,” Lance snorted.

 “Come on, let's see what you got. I haven't got much time,” she made a gesture with her hand to hurry up.

 “Where's the fire?” Lance asked, entering the training details to the panels.

 He turned back to the princess when she didn't reply. She looked lost. _Oh._

 Even after all the time living together in space, sometimes the gaps between their cultures and languages showed it self again. 

 “It's an expression. I think you had one in Altean like it,” Lance scratched his temple trying to remember the proverb Coran had taught him. But his attempt was to no avail. “I don't remember. Doesn't matter,” he made a dismissive wave of his hand, “I meant what's with the hurry? You just got here and five days later than when you'd promised, might I add. I thought punctuation was a quality needed for royalty.”

 The tease didn't have the wanted effect. Allura frowned, sighing.

 “I know, I know, just ... been a few busy days.”

 Lance took a step towards her, “Everything alright?”

 He inspected her face closely. She was a little pale in the face, and those were definitely circles around her eyes. The guilt was sudden to overcome him. She looked so tired. He should've noticed earlier.

 He might've spent the past few days being too focused on Keith. Keith could sometimes—yeah, right,  _sometimes—_ have that effect on him; pull him in like a vortex, take all his attention to himself.

 And yes, Keith was dealing with a lot right now, Lance was glad to be one of the few people who were allowed to be there for him. Of course he was going to do anything he could to help Keith feel better. But that didn't mean he couldn't be there for others;  _everyone_ had a lot to deal with. Of course they did, the weight of the universe was on their shoulders ... literally. Lance had to help everyone as much as he could, specially with the current situation; Shiro had too much on his mind to deal with all of them all the time.

 But more importantly he _wanted_ to be there for them. These people weren't just anyone, they were his friends, his _family._

And he would do anything for his family.

  “Yeah, I've just  been trying to figure out how to access this ...  _power_  or whatever it is, but I'm getting no where. Shiro's been less than helpful. It's like he wants to add to pile of things I have to—” she caught herself with a sigh, her fingers rising to rub at her temples.

 “At least Lotor's been calling to help. But everytime he _does_ he's telling me everything that's going on and I know it's not his intention to worry me, but it's bad out there. The empire is a mess. The remaining generals are trying to join forces and—”

 “Whoa, whoa, hey,” Lance put his hands on her upper arms giving a small squeeze to pull her out her nervous state. He leaned down so his eyes were levelled with hers,  “Allura, _calm down.”_

 Ever since they had gotten closer as friends, she'd let him see this side of her more. The side that wasn't the invincible invulnerable princess who had a solution to everything, but rather a scared person trying to do the best they could in an impossible situation.

 And that, _that_ Lance could understand. After all that's exactly how he felt when he first set foot in the castle. He still wasn't sure how no one else seemed to notice how overwhelmed he'd been. The thought that they had to save the _universe,_ that _he_ had to help do something that big, that the fate of the the universe relied on things he did, choices he made had been overcoming, almost paralyzing in few lone moments. To be honest, a part of him still felt that way.

 He could see why blue had chosen them both. And it was exactly because he knew how it felt to be trying your best and yet feel like it's not enough that he really wished he could help.

 “Allura, you'll figure this out in time. You always do. If Prince Pantene wants it done faster, then he should do it himself, but—”

 “Lance, he's right,” she cut in.  
“This _is_ the fastest way to end the war, once and for all.”

  _Yeah,_ you see Lance wasn't so sure of that. It seemed like this ‘plan’ of Lotor's had a lot of loop holes in it. Let's say they _did_ succeed and gave everyone endless source of quintessence, which from what Lance understood was pure power. Then _what?_ Why would that bring people peace? And even if it _did,_ how long would it last? How long before someone decided they wanted all the power for themselves and started another war?

 Lance couldn't figure out the answers to any of these, nor why no one else seemed to ask or even consider any of these issues. Everyone else seemed to agree on it and well, when Lance had been made clear not to give opinions on things like that anymore.

 Or once _again._

“But he can't. He wasn't the one who passed the test thingy on Oriande. _You_ were. Allura, you can do this. We both know you _can._ I mean I don't know anything about this quinte-whatever stuff but, _come on,_ if the ghosts of your entire race told you can do it, you can, right?” he looked at her, hoping she could see in his eyes that he had no doubt in her.

 “I suppose,” Allura nodded. She didn't seem so sure.

 “Uh, _no,_ wrong answer, you don't _suppose,”_ he tried to mimic her accent. He still wasn't sure why all Alteans seemed to have a British like accent. He and Pidge had discussed it numerous times but never came to a reasonable explanation.

 “You _know,_ okay? Come on, we've shown you enough Disney cartoons for you to know as the princess you can do anything. But if you have any doubts, I can break into singing anytime. You just say the word.”

 The raise of his eyebrow finally got a laugh out of her. She held up a hand, “No _please,_ my ears are still healing from the last time.”

 “I was _joking_ that time,” Lance defended, “and _how dare you?_ I have the voice of an angel.”

 He squinted at Allura when she snorted.

 “Ah, yes well, as Pidge usually says in these situations: satan was an angel too.” the look on her face was a mirror of Pidge's famous _little shit_ look

 “Okay, that's it. You two are spending way too much time with each other. I do not approve. She is clearly not a good influence.”

 She huffed a laugh.

 “And let's be honest here, 'Llura. I wouldn't be too surprised if I am related to satan. I mean these devilishly good looks,” he gestured to his face, “must come from somewhere.” 

 This time Allura snorted into a full laugh. She patted his shoulder once she was done, “You keep telling yourself that, Lance.”

 Lance let the words pass since he'd already gotten what he wanted. She looked less exhausted, even if it was just a little. Lance smiled at her, proud of himself for making her feel better.

 “Hey maybe take some time off and don't think about all this ... magical stuff for a while? That's usually what I do when I want to figure something out and can't think of anything.”

 “Wow, You say that like you actually ever do _think.”_

 “And you say that like you're actually funny.”

 Her only response was to laugh.

 He offered, “We can have another sleepover? Or a movie night? You seem like you need some chilling. Actually, I think everyone could use—”

 “Thanks, Lance,” she cut him off with a smile, “but it's fine. The sooner I can figure things out, the better for everyone.”

 “And Lotor is to contact me soon, so I need to get back,” she added.

 Like Lance hadn't had enough issue with the guy _before,_ now he was pressuring Allura? It didn't seem like anyone else saw it that way though, maybe he was just reading too much into things?

 “Then what are you still doing here?” she raised an eyebrow as Lance continued “you should get some sleep before then. I don't know what this quinte-magic thingy is, but it's clearly taking too much energy from you.” 

 He should ask Coran to make that nutrition goo he made everytime someone came out of the pod or wasn't feeling to well for her. Or ask Hunk to make her some soup, yeah that was less disgusting.

 _Way_ less disgusting.

 “No,” she refused, “I want to see your performance, I was promised great things.” She said not a little unmockingly.

 “You seem like you need some rest, though.”

  She pushed him towards the deck, “Come on.”

 “Alright,” he laughed, “But you should hold on to your hat, cause you're gonna be awed.”

 “That's what you said last time, I was _not_ awed,” She said wryly.

 “Hey, that was _three_ weeks ago. Besides I just got a personal lesson from Keith, so held on to that hat.” 

 “Speaking of Keith, is he doing okay?”

 He stopped initiatng the training to look back at her. “You should ask him.” It would do Keith good to know how much everyone cared for him. Lance wasn't sure he knew how much he mattered here.

 “I did. Of course he said he's fine.” Allura did an eye roll.

 “Then ...?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

 “Well, I just wanted to be sure he was and everyone knows he's more open with you about … well, everything.” 

 Lance knew that. Still, hearing someone else say it made him want to smile, actually it made him want to giggle, intensely, for a prolonged amount of time. 

 “He's dealing, as best as he can.”

“Good,” she smiled, “I know you'll make sure he's doing fine.”

 The hint of pride was clear in her voice. It almost made him smile but then she had to go and smirk like that, “Oh, and just so you know you were making _such_ a dumb face just a second ago.”

 Lance turned his back to her, “So are we doing this or what?”

 He heard her chuckle as the training sequence started. His ears, those little traitors, did _not_ feel warmer.

 

 Lance frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

  _God damn stupid aliens with their even more stupid shampoos._

 It had done its job, _alright,_ done it perfectly; made his hair silky and shiny and smooth and smell amazing. Just one little side effect; it made his hair more fucking curly than any fries in the universe had ever been before.

 Now look, Lance appreciated curls on others, waves, all kind of it.  In fact, he even loved them, he loved messing up Pidge's hair. And he often found himself staring at the subtle wave at the end of Keith's hair … 

_Okay, going kinda weirdly off topic there, Lance._

 The point was he appreciated them, but on _others._ He hated, absolutely _hated_ them on himself. Mainly  since his hair used to curl horribly when he was younger; just annoying locks of brown hair tangling together, impossible to control. It was _terrible,_ thankfully to any _and_ every god out there, as he grew older, they'd turned into barely noticeable waves which he turned into impossible to notice by keeping his hair fairly short.

 But thanks to the dumb useless shampoo, at the moment his head looked like a bird nest.

 Okay, so that was a bit of, _a lot of_ , an exaggeration. It wasn't _that_ bad, it was just a little too wavy, and a little bouncy. It still was so annoying. All those weeks of hard work and training for _this_ bullshit.

  Obviously he hadn't done all that just for a _shampoo_ , but to improve and Allura had been so proud earlier. It was actually nice to get some approval in the team. It meant a lot. Shiro just hadn't thought his bayard reforming was really important.

_The man has been through so much. Do you really expect him to throw a party just because your bayard has changed? Really Lance?_

 Lance shook his head at himself. He looked at mirror again, shrugging. Hopefully no one would notice the atrocity bouncing on his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, Lance is amazing. I love my son so much.
> 
> I used to hate having curly hair. I spent hours every morning straightening it. I don't mind it now, but I do keep it short. I just felt like Lance would feel like that, too :)


	13. Chapter 13

Keith couldn't stop staring at Lance.

 The three of them were in the lounge. Pidge sat cross-legged on one of the chairs, bouncing her leg up and down on the side. Her focus as usual was on her laptop which lay on the armrest in front of her. She poppped some sort of snack in her mouth once in a while. It made a very annoying crunching sound that got on Keith's nerves but he wasn't going to ask her to stop, that would only make her do it more. In things like that she could be a lot like Lance.

 Speaking of Lance, he was slumped down on the other end of the same couch as Keith. He seemed to be playing on the tablet but considering he'd lost about ten times in the last five minute his attention was clearly elsewhere.

 Keith, not having anything to do, was just sitting there.

 Oh, and he couldn't stop staring at Lance.

 For some reason, He looked different and it was eating Keith's brain to know what was it. Yes, he was _that_ bored. And it was pissing him off; why did he look different?

 It took Keith a few more minutes of solid staring to finally narrow it down to something about Lance’s hair.

 “What is up with your hair?”

 “Isn't he supposed to be the one obsessed with your hair?” Pidge asked.

 “I am _not_ obsessed—”

 “We literally haven't gone a week in space without you mentioning his hair, you're _obsessed,”_ Pidge looked at Lance from over her glasses, killing Lance's protest before it could even begin.

Keith held back his laugh when Lance just sank further into the couch.

 “Whatever.”

 When Lance offered no answer to his question, Keith asked again, “So? Your hair?” 

 The said boy frowned at him, “Ugh, Keith, it's bad enough that Hunk had to go rummaging through my hair—”

 “Yeah, don't you just hate it when people do that?” 

 “—will you stop reminding me too?” Lance finished, unbothered by Pidge's sarcastic throw.

 Keith raised an eyebrow in question.

“It’s the stupid shampoo, alright?” Lance gave up on playing, he put the tablet away with a little too much force. “It's making it all _curly.”_

 Lance went cross-eyed trying to glare at his own hair. Keith might've hidden his smile behind his hand.

 Now that Lance pointed it out, Keith wondered how he hadn't noticed it earlier. His hair looked somehow spiky _and_ fluffy at the same time. All curled up together in a mess. Keith had the weird urge to pull on one of those chocolate curls and see if it would bounce back like a spring. How was that short hair even forming spirals like that?

 “Wasn't it before?” Pidge asked.

  _“No!”_

 Keith put a hand on his ear at Lance's shriek. The space between them on the couch was not enough to lower _that_ loud voice.

 “Don't use it then,” he suggested.

 “Aw, but it smells _sooo_ good.” Lance countered, probably to himself. He looked at Keith from the corner of his eyes, considering. “Here.”

 Keith felt his eyes rounding to twice their normal size when Lance scooched closer to him, tilting his head, offering his neck.

 Keith leaned away on instinct. _What the ...?_   _“Um_ …” was all he managed to say out loud.

 “Come on, give it a sniff.”

 “Yeah, no, I think I'm good.” Keith said, trying to move in his seat. But there really wasn't any room left on the couch  for him to escape to, he was already pressing himself to the armrest.

 See, when he woke up this morning, he did not imagine sniffing Lance’s hair would be on his agenda today. The possibility had not even crossed his mind that it would be even an option, and he would like to keep it that way.

 Yeah _right._

 “Keith, come on, man. Don't make it weird.”

 Keith scoffed. That was just not fair.  “How am _I_ making it weird? You asked me to _sniff_ your _hai_ r.”

Lance gave him an unimpressed face. “Because I want a second opinio. Hunk's was of no use. he just said I looked _adorable,_ and I should keep it _._ ” he wrinkled his nose like a small kid.

BWell, Keith could see where Hunk was getting at.

 “I need a trustable opinion,” Lance managed to somehow shuffle even closer to him.

  _“Gay,”_ Pidge commented from across the room.

 “See, no one cares,” Lance gestured with his finger, “Now, go on.”

 Keith frowned. He wasn't sure how Pidge's comment counted as ‘no one caring.’ Well, he did. It was normal for her to make teasing comments like that, it was when she didn't sass you that you would start worrying something was wrong.

  _Still not doing this._

 His brain cleared up. He did not need the memory of himself hovering over Lance’s neck to smell his hair to keep him awake at nights. Thank you very much.

 “Lance, I'm not smelling your hair, okay?”

 “But I wanna know how it smells—” 

 “Jesus christ, Lance, it's hair. No one cares what it smells like! It would be stupid to care about something like that when we have so much more important things going on.” He cut in.

 Lance stared at him for a second before retreating to his side of the couch. He rested his elbow on the armrest, propping his chin in the palm of his hand, his face directed at the other way.

 The posture made something inside Keith turn, his tone might've been a bit too harsh. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, _anything,_ Lance spoke.

 “ _I_ care, and yeah, maybe it's stupid to care about ... face masks or body lotions or shampoos when we're in the middle of an intergalactic war. But you know what?” he gave Keith a look from the corner of his eyes, “I like doing it, it's _normal.”_  

  _Normal,_ Keith wasn't sure he even knew what that meant anymore. Was normal even an option for him? Then again, yes, maybe his life had turned upside down more than anyone else's. But it wasn't like everyone else have been living a picnic here either. They were soldiers living far away from their home, fighting to keep the universe safe, flying magical lions and meeting all different type of aliens each day. There was nothing normal about any of that.

 So what if Lance wanted to have some normalcy? So what if he found comfort in the smallest things? What was too bad about that? Did he even have a choice? Didn't Keith want the exact same thing? To have some comfort, to have normalcy, to have something that stayed?

 He pinched the bridge of his nose, “The things you make me do.”

 He shuffled in the couch to get closer to Lance. He didn't have to, Lance perked up in less than a fraction of a second, moving closer.

 “I think that's far enough,” Keith put his hands on Lance’s shoulders keeping him where he was, a foot from him. His face might or might not feel much warmer. _God damn it_. He could feel Lance in his every sense.

 “Getting gayer and gayer over there, guys,” Pidge snorted.

 Lance gave her something between a roll of eyes and a glare before looking back to Keith, “Dude you need a good sniff or you can't give a good opinion, and I _need_ a good opinion, I need to know—”

 “I'm getting it from just here,” Keith cut in before he would start ranting.

 Lance raised an eyebrow, “Okay, unless you have super smelling, that’s not possible, mullet.”

 “I do.”

 “What?”

Keith bit his lip, he hadn't meant to say it outloud. He was ... alright with telling Lance, but maybe later? Not in front of Pidge.

 Unfortunately for him, she caught his eyes as he tried to point to her with his head to get the message of _later_ to Lance. Her brows knitted in a frown, “Look, I know you guys are close but _really?”_

  _Oh,_ she was offended. Her reasoning wasn't exactly correct. Well, it was correct but the real issue wasn't that. Keith was worried it would freak her out.

  _What if it freaks Lance out?_

 That would be so much worse. But Lance had proven time and time again that he wouldn't. If anything, everytime Keith mentioned something relating his galran heritage, Lance would immediately turn his _comforting mood_ on. Maybe Keith wanted to use some of that before he dared to tell the others. Well, didn't seem like he had a choice now.

 “I  _do_ have super ... smelling.”

 He was faced with two blank faces staring at him.

 “Um, explain?”

 He swallowed nervously. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it? How was he even supposed to explain this? “My senses, they're kind of ... getting stronger recently?! I don't know, I think it might be the galra genes?”

  _Obviously_ it was the galra genes. There was no other explanation to why he could suddenly see as clear as day in nights, see colors he didn't even knew existed, hear conversations rooms away from him.

 It had been overwhelming, _terrifying,_ when he'd woken up one day and suddenly the whole world a thousand times louder, brighter, and closer. He was hyper aware of everything around him. The first few days had been unbearable. The smallest things would set him off. Every little sound would echo a thousand times in his head. He'd almost scratched his ears out when his blade had fallen out of his hand to the floor. What should've been just a thud sounded like a thousand screams in his head. Thank god Kolivan had let him stay in his room for a few days.

 He'd gain some amount of control over it after a while, but at moments it still could be too much. And it brought so many fears with it.

  _“What_ senses?” Pidge demanded, squinting at him.

 Keith tried not to take it personally, he knew it was the scientist inside her. Lance, though, he was just staring at him with rounded eyes. His expression showed nothing of what was going on in his head.

 “My hearing, and touch and ... all of my senses, okay?” Keith raised his shoulders. 

  _“Amazing,”_ Pidge said. She had a hand stroking her chin, “would you be up for some tests? I definitely need a scan. We gotta know exactly how much they've changed? How much you've changed? Was it only the brain, or did each organ mutate on its own? And what activated it? I'm gonna ask Hunk to make a ...”

 Keith tuned her out as she began planning all sort of experiments. Okay, besides  _weirdly_ interested, calling him mutated and wanting him as a test subject, she seemed to be fine with it.

 Now that left Lance who still hadn't said anything, still staring at Keith. Keith felt his shoulders slumping under the look, “I know it's weird but—”

 He was cut off by Lance grabbing his wrists, he grinned at Keith, “Are you crazy? _Weird?_  This is awesome! It's totally awesome, It's like you have superpowers. Holy shit, you have super powers!” he seemed to blow his own mind, “You're like superman or something. Well, except for the flying.” 

 “Oh my god, how cool would _that_ be? I mean superman might not have been my favourite superhero but I would definitely catch a ride with you. This is still so cool,” he continued jumping up and down in his seat like a kid.

 Keith's sigh of relief rolled into one with his laugh, “Only you would think me changing because of galra genes is cool.” he stated, more to himself than anyone else.

 “Uh, no?” Lance shook his head, “no, Keith. _Everyone_ would think that, everyone _will_ think that. Don’t let anything tell you otherwise, okay?” he pointed his finder index at Keith, “internal or external.”

 Keith couldn't help the smile. _Yeah,_ that was the comforting he'd been expecting.

  _“The_ gayest _.”_

 Lance turned to glare at Pidge before returning his blue eyes to Keith, and locking them to his, “I _mean_ it.” He whispered. 

 It was only after Keith nodded that Lance let go of him and leaned back in his seat. He placed his arm on the backrest, crossing his leg over the other. He smirked. “Wait, so does that mean you gave me all that shit even though technically you've been sniffing me since I set my foot here?”

 “I wasn't _sniffing_ any— _ugh,”_ Keith gave him a glare, “I can't control it.”

 Lance continued to smirk. Leave it to Lance to go from comforting him to teasing him in ten seconds.

 “So?”

 Keith raised an eyebrow, “So what?”

 “So, how do I smell like?” Lance wiggled his eyebrows. At Keith's deadpan glare he laughed, “no seriously man, I gotta know. Is it worth the uglified hair?”

 Keith wasn't sure he would call it _uglyfied_ per se.

 “I don’t know,” he shrugged.

 “But it smells like literal sunshine.”

 “Literal? _Literal_ sunshine? How would it smell like literal sunshine? Light doesn't have smell.” 

 Lance groaned, resting his head on the backrest at Pidge's comment. “Nice, it smells _nice._ Ya happy?” he looked at Pidge before looking at Keith with questioning eyes.

 “It smells like Allura and Coran,” Keith pointed out. Keith'd thought it was an altean thing but apparently _nope,_ just a shampoo.

 “So? What’s wrong with that?” 

 “Nothing, I don't know, I guess I just like how you normally smell.”

 Keith answered _before_ his brain could signal him how weird it was to say that out loud.

 It wasn't untrue, Lance's hair for some unknown reason in the universe scented like blueberries. He himself scented a cross between cinnamon and vanilla and a hint of something cold which Keith had no way of describing but it was ... intoxicating—it's not like Keith had a control over this, _okay?_ It just was _—_ and it didn't even make sense for him to like it, he wasn't a fan of any of those. And yet the scent had filled him the moment Lance had hugged him upon entering the castle and hadn't left him since. Well, till _now._  So no, it wasn't untrue.

 But he should not have _said_ it.

  _“Better,_ I like it _better.”_ He added, trying to make the situation better. It really didn't seem to work. Lance’s ears had a shade of red pulsing through them.

 A snicker from the other side of the room took his attention, “Okay, now you're just achieving _new_ levels of gayness.” 

 Keith dipped his head lower trying to keep the warmness that had crept up to his face hidden under the bangs. 

 Lance seemingly gave up on his attempt of trying to make Pidge stop the comments by ignoring her, “Would you shut up, Pidge?”

 “Nope,” Pidge raised his eyebrows, “if I have to tolerate your unwanted company, you have to tolerate my unwanted commentary, okay Lois Lane?”

 Keith wasn't sure what that last part was about but she seemed to crack her self on it, making Lance make a face at her and his ears turning redder. “Nobody's keeping you here. You're always welcome to leave for the library.” 

 “Thanks, that made me feel so welcome.” 

 “Anytime,” Lance stuck his tongue out at her.

 Thankfully, he didn't seem to want to comment on Keith's earlier one. Keith sent a personal thanks to every god out there for that. _What were you thinking?_

 He wasn't, that's the answer. And they wondered why he didn't speak more often. It was to avoid disasters like this.

 He kept his mouth shut while the other two bickered like that till dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge let my boys be gay in peace. ;)
> 
> Also sorry if this chapter feels a bit weird, I'm having the worst week.


	14. Chapter 14

  They were making their way back to their rooms. It was Lance departing unexpectedly that pulled Keith out of his thoughts.

 “Lance?” 

 There was a line sitting in between his eyebrows when Lance turned back to look at him, “Allura skipped dinner.”

 “So?” Keith questioned. It wasn't uncommon for her to skip the last meal of day and Coran always gave her a pass each time. 

 “She didn't look so great earlier, either.”

 Lance seemed to think that was a sufficient explanation as he turned to go back the way they just came. It really wasn't. Perhaps that's why Keith found himself following the boy. Lance didn't question it. They walked in silence. 

  Keith sat down when they arrived at the kitchen. Placing a hand under his chin, he watched as Lance moved around the room. He was heating something.  A smile found its way to Keith's lips when Lance began whistling while working. He had a distant memory of hearing the tune somewhere before but he couldn't put his finger on it. 

 Lance placed a tray on the table, putting three cups inside. He looked inside a few cabinets before puliing out a patch of biscuits. He added them to the tray too. Picking it up, he gestured with his head to Keith, “I'm done. Come on”

 They began walking in the direction of Allura's room. Keith studied Lance from the cornereyess of his eye. He looked worried.

 Keith had only figured something out not long before he left for the blade. It had come as a surprise. The thing was unless Lance wanted to show something, he was actually pretty good at hiding what he was feeling. Well, ‘ _Hiding’_  wasn't the perfect word. More like he managed his feelings, kept them at bay only to resurface when he allowed them to.

 It should made the job of understanding him much harder on Keith—Keith barely could understand people who fully showed their emotions, let alone someone who could control when not to—yet for some reason he could read the emotions on Lance.  He still had to look for them and know that he should be looking for them because trust him Lance was good at hiding them. But once he knew where to look, it actually wasn't that hard ... It _was,_ it was so hard. People were hard to understand, but people who were worth it? It was worth the effort for _them,_ Keith had decided.

 But Lance had a weak spot, what Keith used as a cheat sheet: his eyes. Even if he was great at supervising what emotions he showed on his face, he could never control what he showed in his eyes. Keith wasn't even sure how eyes could reveal that many feelings all at once, but Lance’s did.

  And right now, the seriousness in his eyes screamed of his worry. As did the slight furrow of his brows, and the way his jaw was set, as much as he seemed to want to hide it. 

 Keith, even not knowing what had caused the concern, wanted to help it. The only way he knew how, was what Lance always did for him; talking, talking to distract him.

 Unfortunately that wasn't an area Keith was very good at.

 “I've never been to Allura's room,” he eventually said, not having came up with anything else.

 The answer came with a delay, like Lance was swimming out of his thoughts.

 “I've been there, twice. It's so huge and fancy, Keith. Our rooms combined look like a tiny matchbox compared to it.”

 “Yeah, I guess that comes with the territory of you know,  _owning_ the place.” Keith pointed out, feeling satisfied when Lance huffed a small laugh.

  “Man, I wish _I_ had a castle,” Lance said in a wistful tone.

 “I think _that_ part comes with the territory of being royalty.” 

 “I could be royalty.” 

 Keith raised his eyebrow.

“What? We've veen to like a billion planets, and there's so many more out there. All I need to do is find a royal member to woo, and voilà, we've got ourselves a prince Lance,” he wiggled his eyebrows _“Ooh,_  Prince Lance. I could get used to that. Your majesty, Prince Lance.” 

 Keith couldn't hold back his laugh, and he wouldn't even if he could. He wasn't sure where to start with all the crap Lance just said.

 “Whatcha laughing there about, mullet? You just got yourself uninvited from my castle.” 

 Keitb could tell he was faking the offence in his tone. “I think I'll live without being invited to your imaginary castle, your majesty.” 

 Lance squinted at him, “Imaginary? How dare you? Okay, you just got banned from Lanceland too. There's gonna be banners of _no mullets allowed_ all over the place now. ” 

 “Lance ... _land?”_  

 “The city I'm gonna build my castle in, _obviously.”_  

  _“Obviously,”_   Keith snorted. Why would anyone think anything else?

 “Preferably it's gonna be under water. Lanceville sounds good too, though, or Lanceutopia.” 

 “Lanceutop...” Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. How was it that even when he was trying to make Lance feel better, he was the one who ended up laughing? “You're an idiot.” 

 Lance only shrugged, “Eh, I've been called worse.” 

 He stayed quiet the rest of the way, only speaking up outside Allura's door ain, “Thanks, mullet.” 

Keith ignored the nickname in favour of asking, “For what?” 

 The only response he got for that question was a smile and a look that spoke far more than Keith understood.

 “You mind …?” Lance nodded towards the door with, raising the tray in his hand.

 “Oh, right,” Keith knocked on the door for him.

 “Allura?” Lance called.

  A few moments passed before a hoarse voice replied, “ _Laaance?”_

 “The one and only,” Lance said, “can we come in?”

 As the door opened, Allura's voice came again, “We? Who's _we?_ And this better be important.”

 Lance entered, Keith after him. He stopped upon taking the first step. He tried not to gawk too much while looking around. Lance whispered ‘told ya’ to his ear. He hadn't joked about the room being big. Unlike theirs, the room was furnished, well,  _royally._

 Allura was sitting in her huge bed, a mountain of pillows surrounding her. She was wearing sleep robes, sitting beneath the blanket, half glaring at them while rubbing an eye. They must've woken her up.

 “Is everything alright?”

 “Yup,” Lance drawled the ‘p’ as he sat down on the end of the bed.

 The only chair was in front of the mirror and quite far from there. Keith followed Lance’s lead, taking the other side of the bed.

 Lance placed the tray between them. “Just making sure everyone's settled.”

 Keith wasn't sure what that was about but Allura laughed in response. 

 Lance picked up one of the cups, he looked down at it with a smile, “My mom used to bring us warm milk at nights when we had a rough day or every time we were too tired. I know it's not much but I swear it works.”

 He handed the cup to Allura. Picking up one for himself, he pointed Keith to take the other one, “I just thought you could use it.”

 He seemed to be telling that to the both of them.  
Keith stared at the cup. He really shouldn't drink that. He lifted the cup to his mouth fully aware he'll regret it later.

 But Lance’s smile was too warm for him to refuse.

 “And cookies are always welcome, am I right?” Lance said, patting the four mice that had already raced up to sit on his lap. He offered them some. The squeaks were all the confirmation needed.

 “Oh, you most certainly  _are,”_ Allura leaned in to pick a few. She didn't waste any time, putting them in her mouth all at once.

 Keith couldn't help his laugh when she said “Thankmmph, Lance,” with a full mouth.

 Lance smirked looking at him, “Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce our _very_ graceful princess.” He pointed to her trying to add even more biscuits to her already full mouth.

 Both of them snorted as she said ‘ _shut up_ ’ showing them the contents of her mouth doing so. _Wow._

“So, I take it prince L'Oreal wanna be didn't have good news?” Lance asked once all the cookies had vanished, which between the three of them and the four mice happened pretty quickly.

 She raised an eyebrow, “I thought he was pentene _... pantene?_ wanna be?”

 Lance waved his hand in a dismissive motion, “Potato, _potato.”_

 Lance’s distaste for Lotor had been obvious since day one. Even while away, Keith saw all the faces Lance pulled at him when they called the castle. It was clear in Lance's voice every time he talked to the man, or _about_ him.

 She sighed, “No, things are getting worse. If only I could …” she trailed off, looking down at her hands.

 Keith wasn't exactly sure what was it that they expected her to do, just open up a portal to pure quintessence with power of her will? How would that exactly work? He should ask more about it later. Perhapse when she's in a better mood.

  Lance’s expression turned soft.  
“Hey, now, it's alright. You'll figure it out in—”

 “In time,” she finished, smiling at him, “I know Lance. You were very clear earlier.”

  _“Good.”_

 Lance leaned back, trying to avoid Allura's hand trying to ruffle his hair. His face changed immediately.

 He gasped, “You _knew.”_  

 “Knew what? I have no idea what you're talking about?” Allura batted her eyelashes at them innocently.

 Did not look like Lance bought it, “Oh, you _so_ do.” he pointed his finger at her, “You knew it was gonna go all ...” he only pointed at his head.

 Keith didn't hold back his smile, neither did Allura.

 “Maybe.” 

 Lance scoffed, “You are a mean _mean_ lady.” he crossed his arms over his chest.

 This time Allura tousled his hair before he could dodge. Keith might or might not be wishing he could do the same. His hair looked so soft. Keith wondered how it would feel under the touch.

 Lance half glared at her, yanking her hand away.

 “Oh, come on, Lance. You look adorable,” she laughed.

 “Will people stop calling me that?” Lance threw his hands in the air, “I am not adorable. Dashing? Yes. Handsome? As hell. Even _cute_  I can accept, but not _adorable.”_   

 “But you _are_ adorable. You look like a little yalmor with that hair.” 

 Lance squinted at Allura, “Okay, I don't know what that is but I don't look like it.” 

  “But you _do. Y_ ou know what?” Allura paused, turning her head, “Keith, un-tie this for us. Is he adorable or not?” 

 Two sets of very different blue eyes looked at him, one had an un-human shine and mischief in them, the other were darker, and somehow had the words ‘ _don't you fucking dare’_ written in them, and well, Keith had never been able to back out from the latter.

 He smirked, “Yup.” 

 Allura wiggled her eyebrows victoriously at Lance. The boy looked between the two, scoffing. He put a hand on his heart. Keith could tell there was a show coming on.

 “I can't believe this:  _betrayal._ I've been betrayed by my own team. I've never felt pain this deep. Traitors in Voltron; more likely than you might think.” 

 “Oh, would you grow up, you big baby?” Allura said, but nothing in her tone told Keith that she really wanted Labce to.

 “Nah,” Lance shook his head, “I don't think I will. There are too many grown ups on this ship.”

 As the three of them laughed, the sentence occupied Keith's mind. Even if it was said as a joke, there was more to the words than that. Lance had taken it as a job for himself to do that, hadn't he? He'd grown so much, but still held on to that. To ... being the goofball, to unnerving everyone no matter how tense the situation was. To make others happy even if it was at the expense of himself. It was an admirable trait. 

 Once the laughs died down, Lance began placing the cups back in the tray. He stood up, “Okay then, we're gonna let you get back to your beauty sleep. Well, not that you need it,” he winked at Allura.

 Keith stood up too as she answered with something between an eye roll and a huff of laughter. He might've rolled his eyes too.

 “Goodnight, and farewell, your highness,” Lance bowed down at the door, earning another laugh from her. Keith only gave her a nod.

 Lance looked quite pleased with himself as the door closed behind them.

 “You guys have gotten closer,” Keith observed. It was hard not to notice it. She looked much more comfortable around him. And much more open than she was to anyone else. Well, Keith couldn't say he was surprised Lance had that effect.

 He was faced with mischievous eyes as he looked up. Lance leaned a little closer, “Jealousy, thy name is Keith.”

 Keith gave him a deadpan look, one that resulted in another laughter. He was joking, Keith knew that. He recalled Lance saying something along those lines to him once before.

 Boy, if only he knew.

 

 After a quick trip to the kitchen, they made their ways to the rooms.

 “Goodnight, Keith.” Lance said taking a step inside his room, he stopped leaning back and giving him a quick wink before returning to his room. Keith might've stared at the closed door for some time.

 

 He was settled warmly into his bed when a tap came through the wall. Lance's voice followed immediately.

 “Mullet, you sleep?”

 “Yes.”

 He heard a snort, “Wow, you must be in such a deep state of sleep if you're talking.”

 “I am.” Keith kept his voice monotone. He heard another snort. When it wasn't followed by anything else, Keith took it upon himself to ask.

 “Well?”

 “Well what?” 

 “What did you want to say?”

 Lance hummed, “I don't know.”

 “You don't ... know? You're so weird,” Keith shook his head.

 “I can't believe _you_ of all people are calling _me_ weird.”

 There was a few moments of silence, before Lance spoke up again, “You know I'm barely even whispering.”

 Well, that explained why his voice was raspy. It almost felt like Keith was hearing it right next to his ears. 

 “And you can hear me perfectly. It's _amazing.”_

 “Yeah,” Keith whispered. He wasn't sure he would call it amazing. Un-normal, un-natural, _un-human_ maybe, but not amazing. 

 “It's cool, Keith. Remember?”

 A small smile took over his lips, “Yeah.”

 “You know if you don't want to let Pidge ... test you or whatever, you don't have to. It's okay. She'll understand.” 

 Keith wasn't sure he had the heart to stop Pidge, or the guts. She could be quite scary when something came between her and her science.

 “I know.”  

 Lance's voice came after a while, “Is it too much?” 

 “Is what too much?” Keith questioned.

 “Your ... heightened senses? Like it's not bothering you, is it? Cause if it is, I'm sure we can can get Pidge and Hunk to use those big brains of theirs to come up with something to help.” 

 Keith stared at the wall, feeling something threatening in his chest. Why had he ever thought Lance was stupid, or didn't use his brain enough? Why had he ever thought Lance cared about nothing but himself?

 Even if it was for the short time when they had first arrived at the castle, how could he ever think that? Was he blind? It's like Lance never stopped thinking about others. Moments it felt like Lance could see right through him. And Keith had done everything in his power to make it impossible for anyone to do that.

 “No, it's okay.” It wasn't something he couldn't live with. As long as this was all there was to them. 

 “You sure?” 

 “Yeah.” 

 “In that case, Goodnight,” Lance whispered.

 Though he didn't seem to sleep.

 Keith had realized he didn't have much control over the senses when he was more emotional, like when he was angry, or upset, or ... or now. He could hear Lance’s breaths.

  _Fuck,_ he could hear Lance’s breaths, every inhale and exhale. This was ... would Lance even be okay with this?

 There was a sigh but there were no signs of Lance's breaths slowing down.

 “You're still awake.”

There was a pause in the intakes, “How can you tell?”

 “I-I can hear you breathe,” Keith admitted.

 Another pause, “Okay, I admit that's a bit freaky.”

 Keith held his breath. Had he gone and finally freaked him out? He really wouldn't blame Lance if he was.

 “But still cool.” Lance added.

 But _of course_ he wasn't.

 “Okay.”

 “Don't go freaking out, or anything. Don't-don't be afraid of this, okay?”

 “Okay.”

 “You're still you, Keith. no amount of weird ass super powers are gonna change that. You're still the pain in the ass stubborn mullet head.”

 Keith didn't know how Lance knew exactly what to say or what tone to use to calm him down but he did. He probably had a super power of his own.

 He sounded so soft, so so soft that Keith ate his ‘it's not a mullet.’ 

 “Okay,” Keith couldn't even trust himself to say anything more than the simple word. He was choking on even that.

 “Okay,” Lance repeated. “Night, mullet.”

 “Goodnight.”

 Keith smiled, listening to Lance’s breaths even out. As calm, as sleepy as it made him, he knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep. The pay up for that cup milk would show up any second. Yet as long he awaited the stomachache to come, It never did. He drift off quite shortly after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My boys are so soft, I love them so much :)


	15. Chapter 15

 Keith had stumbled upon the lounge after getting tired of training. He was human ... or partly human too. Much to his dismay there was a limit to the amount of hours he could spend exercising in a single day.

 He'd been sitting on one of the couches for a while, busying himself with watching the others. Allura's focus was on the tablet in front of her, a line between her brows as she typed. Pidge and Hunk were working on a laptop. They were planning on building a ...

 So he had no idea what they were trying to build. He'd tried to make sense of what they were saying at first, but gave up after some time. He had no clue what half the words they said even meant, let alone understand them. He kept tuning in and out. His attention was once again piqued when he heard them mention Lance.

 “he said he'll help me after training, but he hasn't shown up yet. Ugh, he's starting to act like—”

 “You keep saying that,” Keith cut in. The two turned to look at him. He explained. “You keep saying he's training but he's never in the training room.” 

 Keith hadn't run into him _once_ in the past few days, and he spent _a lot_ of time there, alright? It was a reasonable question to ask.

 “Man, did we forget to tell you?” Hunk face palmed, “He's in the other training room.”

 “There's _another_ training room?”

 Keith couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice. He would know if there was another one. It would solve his problem of wanting to use the training room when it was occupied by others.

 “Well, technically It's not an _actual_ training room,” Pidge pushed her glasses up on her nose. “He kept wanting to train when the rest of us wanted to, so Coran kinda made, you know that second ballroom on the other floor?” 

 Keith didn't, he nodded anyway.

“Yeah, Coran add bots and stimulators ... and everything. It's basically training room 2.0.”

 “Wow,” Keith exclaimed at every part of that explanation. Both the fact that Lance had wanted to train _that_ much and the length Coran had went to help him.

 “Yeah man, _favourites,”_ Hunk shook his head.

 It really was no secret to the paladins that the advisor held the former blue paladin in high regards. Keith supposed for good reasons; Lance spent time with the older man more than any of them. Keith had found them talking, arguing, about the craziest stuff and working together around the castle more than a few times. It made sense that he was Coran's favourite.

 And it wasn't like Lance didn't return the affection, always helping him, making sure he wasn't doing too much work. It was obvious he cared deeply for the older man. 

 Keith stood up, “So can someone give me directions or ...?” He didn't remember where the room was. Not really his fault: the castle was enormous and filled with many _many_ empty rooms. If he wanted to just look for the place, he could end up wandering around for a couple of hours. 

 “Don't you have better things to do?” Pidge asked.

 Keith quirked an eyebrow, “Well, I'm sitting here, talking to you, so …”

 “Ouch, savage,” Pidge snorted, “I've missed savage, Keith.”

 “I'll show you there,” Allura said abruptly, placing the communication tablet on the table next to her. 

 “You can just tell me where—” 

 “Oh no, I _insist,”_  She interrupted, already getting up.

 Her tone made Keith send her a questioning look.

 Yet she didn't offer an explanation till Pidge asked, “Why?” 

 “He hasn't seen Lance train since he's been back.”

  That didn't really explained his mischievous tone but looks of understanding plastered across Hunk and Pidge's face. Their immediate _‘Ooh’_ only confused him more.

 Allura turned to him again, “You haven't, right?” 

 “Uh ... no?” 

 “Good.”

 Keith frowned, not knowing what that meant, or why Pidge grinned at her.

 “Jeez, you're worse than me.”

 Neither of them explained themselves. Allura only gestured for him to follow. Her smirk stayed with her as the two of them entered the hallway. Keith would've walked by her in silence but the question was eating his brain away.

 “Is there a reason he's training so much?”

 “It's just he didn't used to before,” he added as Allura sent him a sharp glance.

 “Oh, let me _guess,_ you don't think that's what he's really doing either.”

 Keith was taken aback by bitter tone. “No, that's not what—”

 She held up her hands, “No, I apologise. I know that's not what you were saying.”

 “Guess I've gotten used to defending him.” She whispered to herself.

 Keith frowned. Why would Allura need to do that? Who did she even need to defend him to? But she didn't offer any further clarifications, nor answered his question properly. She just smiled saying, “You'll see.”

 “Are you sure we're going the right way?” he asked after a few minutes of walking. 

 “Keith, might I remind you that this is my castle,” she quirked an eyebrow, “and unlike _you,_ my sense of direction works just fine.”

 That successfully shut him up. She still remembered that? Keith busied himself looking at the wall to hide his embarrassment. 

 “It's right over the corner.” She added with a laugh.

  _Weird._ Lance's training was usually much noisier than that, he did not pull any bullets.  Yet there was no shooting sound coming from the room. Perhaps he was taking a brake.

 Keith had the urge to ask her if they could wait till he was back at training before going in. Sue him, but he just wanted to see how much Lance had improved. With all the training he apparently had been doing and considering he already was an excellent shot before, he should be able to shoot anything from a mile away by now. Keith definitely wanted to see that.

 But as they got closer clashing sounds stsrted to come from the room _._  Keith's brows knitted together. Whay exactly was going on?

 Allura's smirk had found its wsy to her lips again. She opened the door quietly, stepping.

 Keith only took a single step inside before his feet glued to the floor. His brain shut down at what he was seeing.

  _What is happening?_

  _What does Coran put in that goo?_

 Lance was fighting the gladiator with his bayard. Normal, right?

  _Wrong._

 He was fighting with the red bayard. Except that instead of the normal blaster or the riffle, the bayard was in the form of a sword.

 A _sword. A freaking sword!_

  And as if that wasn't crazy enough on its own, Lance was fending with the sword quite skilfully, like he'd been doing this for a while. From the way Lance fought, how his hand seemed used to the sword being attached to it, this couldn't be something that just happened.

 “A sword? What ...?  When ...?” he asked from no one. He didn't dare to raise his voice louder than a whisper. He was afraid it would break the spell. Or maybe it was some sort of a weird dream. Let's just say wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten one about Lance. And this sure looked like a dream.

 Keith wasn't sure he'd ever seen the boy look that focused. He could only watch with an open mouth as Lance moved around the deck. He smile-smirked as each drone fell down around him with the swing of the sword. But as shocking, amazing, crazy as the sight in front of him was, to Keith something felt wrong. It wasn't the wrong form or footing. Lance looked confident but ... grounded, like he was holding himself back. He seemed to fall back from the bot, too busy adjusting the power he was using.

 That seemed  _wrong_ to Keith _,_  Lance looked relaxed, carefree when he fought with his gun but not with the sword.

 Still the smirk on his lips every time he made a correct move, the determination in every swing of the sword, the confident look in his eyes as he dodged the bot it was impossible to look away.

 Keith's eyes were glued to him like he was the only source of light in the universe and Keith was a blind man who'd been allowed to see for just this one time in his life. How could he look away? _Why_ would he look away? Keith had never been a fan of theatre but he would pay his life savings just to see a show as good as this one.

 He could feel his face warming up. There was an attempt to tell the gay thoughts to _calm the fuck down_. But the attempt was not successful. Not even remotely. He wasn't in a place to control his thoughts at the moment. Perhaps later he could deny them or well, get over them but not right now. The shock was too much. 

 Because a sword, what?

  _What?_

 Keith came to enough control of himself to notice Allura's eyes on him. A muffled laugh came from her. Keith was suddenly too aware of how red his face had gotten. 

 “When did ...” he pointed to Lance, _“that_ happen?” 

 “Oh _no,_ I'm not taking that kind of fun from from Lance. He'll never forgive me if I do,” she whispered in an equal quiet voice, but where his had fascination mixed with his, she had mischief laced with hers, “I got what I came here for.”

 Keith would sent her a glare if he could bring himself to stop looking, _gawking_ , at Lance. He could still see her grin from the corner of his eyes, and even if he couldn't, the amusement was quite clear in her voice.

 “Feel free to let him know you're here when ever you're ready”—did she just _wink?—“_ just don't stare too much at him.”

 She seemed to crack herself on something more than thr most definite dumbstruck look on Keith's.

 She whispered  _‘idiots’_  as she walked out of the room quietly. But he couldn't find it in himself to care about that or anything but the sight in front of him. Did everyone know something like this was happening right under their noses? Why weren't everyone here watching this?

 Keith couldn't stop. He didn't even want to. He wasn't sure how long he stood there staring at Lance, but it border-lined on creepy. Eventually he managed to close his mouth, remembering the way to move again.

 He walked to the deck, “Since when do you have a sword?”

 “Keith!”

 Lance shouted out in surprise. He turned around, the sword still in his hand. Keith's reflexes worked quickly, making him jump a step back before the blade of the sword would slash him into two pieces. 

 It brought a laugh out of him, “Lance, First thing you should know about swords, try to point it at the _enemies,_ not friends.”

 “Keith, oh my God, are you okay?” Lance deactivated the bayard, holding a hand. “Sorry.”

 “It's fine,” Keith reassured.

 Lance's eyes ran over him, doing a quick check up. Then his brows knitted together.

 “Now, wait a second, who told you?” he looked around the training room before poutinh, “Man, I was planning on doing it myself, preferably with a camera present to capture the dumb look on your face.” 

 “Allura,” Keith answered then frowned, “and there were no ... dumb looks.”

 He lied through his teeth but Lance didn't need to know _that._

 He looked like he did though. He smirked, “Oh, really? Cause I can still see the remains of it.”

 “I do not have a duu—”

 The protesting words were caught in his throat as the sword appeared in front of his face again as Lance activated the bayard.

 In Keith defense, the sword looked even more breath-taking from up close. It looked different to the one Keith had, more delicate, but sharper. Unfortunately Lance deactivated it before he could get a better look.

 “You were saying?”

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest. He did his best to ignore Lance’s self satisfied face, and his way too smug tone while thanking every god out there the redness of his face had gone away or Lance would _never_ let him hear the end of it.

 “So, how long has that been going on?”

 “A couple months.”

  _Months?_

 _“_ What? Why did no one tell me?” 

 Lance quirked an eyebrow. Keith chose to think it had nothing to do with how high _his_ voice had gone.

 “Because it's not that important?”

 Keith begged to differ.

 Lance shrugged, “And when did you except me to do that? Between Kolivan's mission reports? Or during the five seconds that you still were on the screen before the call ended.”

 There it was again, that bitterness in his tone. Keith had noticed it every time they discussed his time with the Blade. Lance had dismissed being upset about it but his voice said other stories.

 He looked up at Lance, “So, do you need help with … I can teach you ... I mean if you want?” Keith struggled offering.

 Lance shook his head, laughing, “ _Of course_  that's the first words coming out of your mouth. I'm not even surprised you training-freak.”

 “From what I've heard you've been quite the _training-freak_ yourself.” now there was an actual explanation to _why._

 Lance nodded, “I guess.” 

 “So?” Keith asked again.

 Lance placed his chin in his hand, stroking it.  “Hmm, I'm not sure. I mean on one hand I definitely want to fight like you, cause you look awesome; on the other hand I'm not sure I want to give you actual reasons to yell at me.”

 Keith ignored the part of his brain trying to focus on Lance thinking he looked  _awesome_.

 “See if this helps, maybe you can teach me how to shoot in return?” he bit his lip.

 Lance eyebrows shut up so fast and so high, Keith worried they would fly off his forehead.

 “I don't think I've ever seen you even hold a gun before.”  

 “Neither have I seen you hold a sword before”—he would remember—“things change.” 

 Keith sighed when Lance continued to stare at him, “Look, I just realized I don’t know to how to use anything but my blade,” he's a member of the marmora Blade, he should have more than a single choice of weaponary and he should be able to aim with a gun. He couldn't just go throwing his blade at every soldier, what if there were more than one coming at him? What if he didn't have his sword to use?

 Lance tilted his head a little, eyes analysing Keith. His face turned softer as he nodded eventually. “Yeah, okay deal, but I'm expecting you to turn me into a grade A samurai.”

Keith huffed a laugh.

 “And no bossing me around,” Lance added. He raised a hand to point his finger at Keith, turning off the training panel with his other.

 “You're finished?” Keith asked  finding himself feeling a little disappointed when Lance stepped off to the corner, bending down to pick up a water bottle and something else. He was looking forward to see Lance train some more.

 “Yeah, I'm like two seconds from falling sleep right here,” he held up his hand. Offering something that looked suspiciously like pop-tarts to Keith.

 Apparently Coran's rule of no transferring crumbable food through castle did not apply to him.

“You really are his favourite, huh?”

 “What?” 

 “Nothing,” Keith shook his head as they began walking. He took one from Lance's hand.

 Wow.

 If they weren't just about to get dinner Keith would finish the rest of the box. Where did Lance even found all these snacks?

 Again, probably Coran.

 Keith might or might not have spent the entire dinner still feeling a little giddy. He had seen a lot of weird things in his life, okay? he was used to being shocked, he just hadn't expected this.

 He _really_ hadn't expected it. He found himself staring at Lance once in a while.

 It was just his great luck that Allura was sitting next to him and seemed to notice his ... _whatever_ state. She leaned in to his ears, “Still not over it, huh?” 

 She laughed herself off. Thankfully she offered no explanation to anyone else.

 He hoped the room was dark enough for her not to notice his face turning red.

_Fat chance._

 Once back in his room, lying in his bed, Keith told himself he had no problem getting the picture of Lance standing tall and confident with his grip on the sword out of his head. Maybe if he tell himself that enough times, he'll believe it.

_Fat chance._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come on, I had to put this in here. I mean I had a break down when I first saw Lance with that beautiful bayard, of course Keith's gonna turn into pieces by it.


	16. Chapter 16

 The silence at the lunch table was unusal. Lance was aware of the fact that it had everything to do with him glaring at Keith every few seconds, and the other boy's eye rolls at him in return.

 It was Allura who finally broke it after a few minutes. “So, how was training?”

 Her voice had a hint of amusement hidden in it which made Lance lend her a few of his glares too—he was still a tiny bit hurt she hadn't let _him_ tell Keith about his bayard. He'd wanted to see Keith's initial reaction and possibly make fun of it—before answering.

 “Oh, fine, peachy, in fact  _great,_ up until _somebody_ decided to start criticizing my sword.” He wasn't done finishing the sentence before Keith answered.

 “For the thousandth time, Lance, I wasn't criticizing it.”

 “You said it was  _small,”_ Lance scoffed.

 “I didn't say small, I said _thin—”_

 Keith had his ‘ _Lord, please give me patience’_   expression on, which pissed Lance even more than his numerous eye-rolls.

 “What's the freaking difference?”

 Keith ignoring his question continued, “—and it _is_ thin, and longer than—”

 “It's supposed to be thin, It's a _broadsword!”_ Lance threw his hands in the air.

 “I know! And I never said that's a bad thing,” Keith snapped before sighing. He pinched the bridge of nose, “All I said was that it's longer than my old one. I was just stating the fact that your sword is different to mine, okay? I didn't say it's bad. It just felt different holding—”

 The muffled snort took Lance’s attention from him. He looked to Pidge. She was biting her cheeks very hard. In fact looking around the table everyone looked like they were fighting to hold their laughs. He frowned. _What's up with them?_ Keith was still going on about the stupid swords.

“—mine's like ... bigger? I don't know? Thicker?—”

 Oh. _Oh_   _no._

  _Oh, no, no, no, no ..._

_No!_

“—it felt different in hand than what I'm used to—”

 “Keith, stop. Just ... _stop.”_ Lance cut him off, feeling his face turn a thousand degrees warmer. His face a _nd_ his ears. _And_ his neck.

 That seemed like the last bridge holding the pther back. They burst into laughter. _Every_ single one of them, even Shiro, even Coran for fuck's sake.

 Oh, come on.

 Keith looked around the table at the simultaneous sound of laughter. He eventually returned his confused eyes to Lance.

 Oh, _come on_.

 “Just rewind the conversation in your head,” Lance said.

 Keith continued to look at him with lost eyes.

  _S_ _eriously?_

Why did the universe hate him? Lance was more than glad to explain anything to Keith, but not _this._ Specially not when Keith's freaking _mom_ was sitting right over there. She was laughing too, might he add.

 “Keith, come on, what's the word ... with the ... um, double meaning there?”

 Another roar of laughter overtook the table at his explanation. Lance made sure to glare at everyone he could, but they didn't seem to care.

 “Wha—” Keith began to ask, making Lance ponder whether the universe did truly hold a grudge against him but then he stopped, his eyes widening. Blood began rushing to his face immediately. It only took a few more seconds for the redness to take over every visible part of his face.

 Lance was sure his own was rivaling it. Well, maybe not his nose. For some reason Keith's nose always blushed redder than anywhere in his face. It would actually be kind of cute, had it been any other time.

 “No-not, not _that_ sword. I wasn't, I didn't mean, I didn't have Lance's _sword_ in my hand! I mean I _did_ but it was his sword not his _sword._ His bayard, I had his bayard in my hand.”

  _Yeah,_ he was not helping. And he managed to somehow turn redder with every word that escaped him.

 “Keith, just shut up,” Lance decided to save the remaining of their dignity. He felt like it might've been too late.

 “Oh my god,” Pidge rolled off her chair to the floor, not that she cared. She was too busy holding her side to care. “this is the best ...” she trailed off to chuckles.

 Not that anyone else was better. Even Hunk, the traitor, was laughing.

 _Come on,_ what were they? A bunch of thirteen year old teenagers? Who even laughed at such jokes in their age?

 Okay, to be fair, had this happened to anyone else, Lance would've found it funny too. But being in the center of it, he was not finding any humour in it. Keith next to him had found a corner on the floor staring at it. He looked like he wanted to vanish from the face of earth... or space.

 Lance could relate.

 It took a few minutes for everyone to finally shut their laughing holes, and _of course_ that's when Pidge, who'd finally managed to crawl back to her chair, turned to Keith.

 “So,” she cleared her throat “you're not fully pleased with the size Lance’s sword, huh?”

 Oh, she _didn't!_  The gremlin had managed to say that with a straight face and a serious tone, except for the damn emphasize on the word _‘pleased’._

 “No, that’s not what I said, I was just saying—”

With a groan, Lance dropped his forehead to the table. _God damn Keith,_ why was Lance stuck with the most oblivious guy in the universe?

 He covered Keith's mouth with his hand _before_ he made things any worse.

 “Pidge, shut the fuck up,” he glared at the tiny laughing figure before turning to Keith.

 He removed his hand, “Keith, _seriously?!_ she's baiting you, man.”

 “Oh,” Keith turned to look at the others. Pidge's snicker had brought everyone else's back too. “y'all are horrible people.”

 Lance had enough on his mind not to cringe at the little Texan that had slipped in there.

 A few minutes of the others laughing and Pidge reciting half of the things Keith had said made Keith and Lance share a glance.  They silently agreed it was time to get out of there.

 “We should probably get back to training,” Lance announced, standing up.

 “Yeah,” Keith added, following suit.

  _“Aw,_ can't wait to have a sword fight, can you?”

 Distributed his glower between Pidge and Allura—she snickered _too_ loud at Pidge's comment so she more than deserved it—he took a hold of Keith's arm, shoving him towards the door of the dining room, “Come on.”

 “Be sure to use protection.”

 Lance was not ashamed to say he was petty enough to pause and pick up a spoon to throw at Pidge's face. He was ashamed to say it did not hit target. She dodged, laughing.

 Why wasn't Shiro saying anything to her? Lance got hour long lectures every time he did as much as curse. But her, she could get away with saying _that?_

  _Favourites._ So not fair.

 He stopped at the door, looking back at Pidge, “I'll have you know the size of my _sword_  would be fully pleasing to anyone!” 

 He felt satisfied hearing a few _‘Ew’_ s between the snorts as he exited. Look, if they could be that low, so could he.

 Lance didn't let go of Keith's arm until they had crossed a few hallways. When he finally did, they just stood there, leaning to the wall. Keith's eyes found their ways to his, they stared at each other for a fracture of a second before bursting into laughter.

 Lance found himself ignoring the embarrassment, Keith's full blown laughs were quite rare and he just wanted to appreciate it.

 “I can not believe that just happened,” Keith had a hand covering his eyes.

 “Yup,” Lance snorted, “that's probably the most embarrassing moment of my life and it wasn't even my _fault.”_ that was certainly a change.

 _“Doubt it,”_ Keith commented on the first part with eyes full of humour, “and it was _your_ fault. _You_ brought it up.”

 “Because you called my sword ...” Lance caught himself, “yeah, _no,_ we're not doing this again.”

 Keith made a small chuckle, “You could've stopped me _sooner._ _”_

 _“_ I didn't even notice till Pidge started snorting,” Lance defended. “How was I supposed to know we're sharing the castle with a bunch of eleven year old idiots?”  How was he supposed to know they were gonna take it that way? How did their minds even go there. Oh great, now Lance's mind was going there.

 “I think they just ruined swords for me.” Keith informed as they began walking again.

 Lance wasn't sure _what_ made him do it, but he smirked, leaning towards Keith, “Really, cause I feel like they just made _training_ a thousand time more fun,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

 Oh, look the red nose was back. Keith's reaction of snorting, getting some color in the face again, _and_ shoving him made him not care about the reason.

 

 Once they arrived at the training room, Keith took a place next to a wall. Leaning against it, he crossed his arms and gestured for Lance to go on.

 Walking up to the panel, Lance tried to focus kn his plan if attack. He was familiar wigh this level, so it shouldn't be that hard. Yet something began creeping up inside him. It was stronger than the embarrassment or the amusement he was feeling earlier, it took them out of the picture, overtaking him. The slight shake to his hand when he tried typing in the information for the level that made him realize what the _something_ was; He was nervous.

 Considering Keith had asked to see his bayard and had made the comment about it as soon as he'd began examining it, and with Lance taking offend in that, they had spent the entire time before lunch arguing. They hadn't actually gotten to the training part. Or more particularly _he_ hadn't got to do the training in front of Keith for him to first get an idea of where Lance was at. 

 Lance rotated his wrist in circular motions. Trying  to warm up while calming down the tenseness he was feeling. It didn't work, he was hyper aware of Keith's presence, feeling the eyes following him. For someone who'd ate only a while ago, Lance's stomach  suddenly felt much emptier. He could feel the droplets of sweat forming on his forehead. Jesus, the last time he'd felt like this was at Garrison's entrance exam. Why was he so nervous? 

 Oh, probably because Keith was going to stand there all high and mighty, watch Lance fight in _his_ area of expertise and-and _judge_ him on it. What if he didn't think Lamce was enough of a fighter? What if he thought Lance was just wasting time here?

 Shiro certainly did, he'd dismissed it as non-important the moment Lance had brought up the news of his sword to the team. Everyone else had thought it was cool, but not Shiro. That had been ... it had felt like a kick to the gut. He had always looked up to Shiro.

 Maybe that was part of the reason Lance had been so adamant on getting better at this. To prove to Shiro that he vould so this, that he had changed, well _grown._

 But what if Keith didn't think so either? Keith was ... Keith's opinion mattered. Lance didn't think he could take if he was gonna act the same as Shiro.

 And what was Lance thinking? Of course Keith wouldn't think he was good enough. He was garrison's _golden boy_ and Lance ... he was just the cargo pilot. There was no way he could compare.

 What had he been thinking? This was a bad idea.

 “Lance?”

 Keith's voice found its way to the spiral Lance was falling through. It broke him out of the nervous shell and brought him to here and now. He turned bak to look at Keith. The hint of questioning concern that had been in Keith's voice, was also evident in his face; it was in the small line between his eyes, in the subtle downward tug of his lips.

 It made Lance smile. Reminded him that Keith wasn't Garrison’s golden boy, or his rival, or whatever other persona Lance had made him be in his head.

 Keith was _Keith,_ Keith was his _friend_ and he was here because he wanted to help.

 Lance kept his eyes on Keith as he took a breath in, he let it take away all the thoughts with it. Funny how the very presence that made him this nervous was also the one who could ground him with a word. 

 Taking control of his nerves, he let a grin take over his face, “Just giving you time to ready yourself for the perfection you're about to see.”

 He activated his bayard, awaiting the training bot.

 A small huff of amusement came from behind, “If you say so.”

 The bot was materalizing so Lance only had a second to turn around giving Keith a wink.

 “Oh, I say so, mullet.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting to make sword jokes since I started this story, and I'm not even sorry ;) and let's be honest here, if the show was even a little realistic, and you know _not for kids,_ someone would've made a joke about it at some point.
> 
> This chapter and the next go together, so I'll probably post it tomorrow. (Please note the _probably_ , I need to edit it first.)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone leaving kudos :)

 He focused everything he had on there and then, putting more effort in that single drill than he ever had in any other. His heart beating in his ears while he moved around the deck. The smile that took over his lips as his sword slashed through the drones was automatic, he knew he was doing a good job. It took a few failed attempts of charging at the gladiator to finally hit him. It dematerialized upon the contact.

 He leaned down, placing his hands on his knees. A small huff of laugh escaped him while trying to catch hid breath. He didn't need to look at the screen to know he'd just broken his own record.

 “So?” he looked up at Keith, still panting.

 “Not bad.”

 Keith stepped forward from the wall to stand in front of Lance. But He kept his head down, his bangs preventing Lance from getting a good look at his expression. It wavered Lance’s confidence. Made him question the fascination he thought—hoped—he'd heard in Keith's tone.

 He stood up, placing his hand on his other elbow, squeezing it, “Yeah?” 

 The word made Keith look at him finally. His skin seemed coloured, probably the lighting. A smal line sat between his brows.  But he gave Lance a small smile as he nodded, “Yeah.”

 Lance let go of the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

 He gestured to himself, “Told you, perfection.” 

 Keith snorted _and_ rolled his eyes.  _Rude._

 “Your stance can use some work though.”

 Well, that was a nice five seconds. 

 “And your form, _and_ your footing _and—”_

 Lance held up his palms, “Okay, okay, I get it. _Clearly_ I could use some help. That's kinda why you're here, buddy.” 

 Lance was greatful for the offer of help. Of course even if Keith hadn't offered, Lance would've asked him. He was sure Allura was a great teacher but unfortunately she had a lot going on. She could rarely actually check up on him. 

 He smiled, “Let's begin the training, Jedi master.”

 “Jeda-what?”

 “Jedi master. You know, from Star Wars?” Lance raised an eyebrow.

 The confusion on Keith's face remained intact.

Oh, _hell no._

 _“You haven't seen Star Wa—_ ” 

 Lance caught the shriek when he saw Keith take a step back. He'd noticed Keith flinching the same way to loud voices a few times. He took a deep breath, lowering his voice. 

 It pained him dearly to make a dismissive wave of hand to such lack of culture but he made the sacrifice, “You know what? Doesn't matter. We can always educate your ass on Star Wars terminology later.” 

 Keith gave him another roll of eyes, which Lance decided to be the bigger person and not call him out on. They'll see who will be rolling his eyes once he makes Keith watch the nine movies, all the extra ones and the amimated show all in one sit.

 “So come on, hit me. What's wrong with my stance?” he asked, pausing, “don't actually hit me.” Lance held his hands up in a defensive position.

 “I wasn't going to.” 

 “Yet,”  Keith seemed to feel the need to add that at Lance's laugh.

 Lance smirked, “Well, the day is still young. Give it some time, I'm sure we'll get there.”

 He had no doubt in his abilities to piss Keith off that much. In fact his ability to annoy Keith to edge of insanity was one of the things he was quite proud of.

 Keith gave him a glare, but Lance saw the way the corners of his mouth had curved up, “Anyway, you're standing too stiff.”

 Of all the things Lance had expected to hear, that was not one. 

 “Seriously?  _You_ are calling _me_ stiff? Have you met yourself, Mr. grumpy pants?”

 Instead of answering, Keith walked to the armory stationed in the corner of the room. Coran had let Lance borrow a few—a lot of—weapons from the main training room and put them there. It might not be much but He was quite proud of the gun collection he had. Even if technically none of them were _his._

 Keith ignored the long range weapons, going straight to the blades. He sized up a few before picking one. It had a crafted gold handle. The blade part resembled the BoM blades. 

 Why wasn't he using his own? In fact, where was that thing?

 Lance frowned. He'd never seen Keith apart from that blade. He knew for a fact that Keith took that thing even to bed. And yet Lance hadn't seen the blade anywhere near its constant companion—aka the sheath in Keith's fanny pack—ever since Keith had returned to the castle with Krolia ... oh.

  _Oh._  

 Lance felt his face soften. 

 He watched Keith spin the blade in his hand as he walked back to Lance. It looked pretty cool. There was a smirk riding the corner of his lips. The same one he always got when training. It was what told Lance that Keith wasn't actually some sort of a workaholic freak—even if Lance always told him he was—that he actually enjoyed training.

 “I said your stance, not you,” Keith cleared, once he stood in front of Lance.

 “Well, yeah. I'm trying to have a good form—”

 “Well, you're failing,” Keith cut his explanation,  “ _miserably._ You look like a lanky noodle trying to hold an even lankier noodle.”

 The transformation from business to party on Keith's end of the line happened in point two seconds.

 “Lanky noodle ...?” Lance scoffed, “There is no need to be mean, Keith.”

 He didn't take any offense, well _much_ offense, in that though. Keith's expression screamed he was joking. He huffed a laugh before continuing.

 “But seriously, I feel like-you look like you're holding yourself back?” Keith frowned, rubbing on his forehead, “I don't know, like you've set some ... rules and you're too busy trying to follow them to actually ... _fight.”_

 “Well, Kind of?” Lance admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck, “I, uh, found these old Altean videos on fighting and stuff.”

 It was amazing the things you could find in the castle library. There was books, reference photos, DIY videos on almost anything you wanted. And he meant _anything._  

 There weren't any physical books in there except for the few rows of these really old ones—Lance sometimes busied himself with them. He couldn't actually read any of them. The languages were ancient. He just enjoyed flipping through the old pages, whatever they were made of—But the actual library was just a big computer. They could load anything they wanted to their tablets from it to read, or watch, later. The thing was practically Pidge's best friend.

 Lance had actually came upon the videos accidentally. He was just looking for some quality alien drama novels to read _—what?_ Even the defenders of the universe got bored sometimes, okay?—when he'd  found them. Lance wouldn't go as far as calling them documentaries but that was basically what they were. They covered all Altean fighting styles and weapons, not just swords. It could be quite boring to watch them, but he still spent a lot of time doing so, analysing the moves.

 He had to. Allura's way of telling him what to do, while very appreciated, didn't work well on him. He was a visual person. He needed to see the techniques in order to be able to perform them.

 The way Keith's eyes rounded made him shrug, “What? I needed something to learn from.”

 It's not like he could just make up things and go, well he could.  _Trust_ him, he could and there was a time he would. But now it felt risky to do that. He wasn't just defending himself. His teammates depended on him, one wrong move and ... 

 Doing everything by the book was his best bet. And  he'd been told more than enough times that he should do just that, follow the book.

 Keith seemed to have other ideas.

 “That's ...” He smiled, “great, but I don't think you should follow them step by step.”

 “Why not?”

 There was a delay in the answer as if Keith was hesitant to do so.

 “You're not good at following rules.”

 “Thanks ...?” Lance replied in an unsure tone. There was nothing in Keith's tone that suggested the sentence had been a criticism or a judgement or anything than Keith just stating a fact.

 “But shouldn't I try? I mean I can't just do whatever I want?”

 “Why not?” Keith raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lips tugging upwards, “I think that's your problem right now. You're-you're focusing too much on what you should do or where you you should be, instead of just moving. You're thinking too much.”

 “I'm sorry did you just say _I_ ,” Lance pointed to himself, “think too much? That's gotta be a first. I mean where are archivist? They should be recording down this monumental moment in history. ‘Keith Kogane just admitted Lance McClain thinks too much.’ I would like that written on a paper with your signature underneath it, so I can throw it at your face next time you call me dumb, please and thank you.”

 Keith only gave him a ‘You done?’ look.

 “Well, you _are,”_ he shrugged, “That's why you fall back from the bot.”

 Oh.

 Lance had noticed the problem. He just hadn't known the reason, and no matter how much he tried he hadn't been able to solve it. He furrowed his brows, “So, you're basically saying I should just go with the flow?”

 “I guess.”

 Lance just stared at him. That went against everything anyone has ever told him in his entire life. If anything people usually told him _not_ to go with his flow. In fact, Keith had been one of those people. Well, he hadn't been one of those people for a long time now, but still.

 Sure, Lance had never listened to them before, but this time, it was just too important for him to risk.

 “I'm just saying go with your guts?” Keith added in respond to the stare.

 But, Allura had said he was improving. And Lance could feel that he was getting better.

 But if he was to try it the new way, it would be like starting over again. Who knew how long it would take him to get back to where he was now?

 He questioned, “You sure? Cause Allura said I—”

 “Lance, she isn't the one fighting. _You_ are.”

 “But you, yourself _just_ said my form is wrong, _and_ my form and my footing, remember? It was just five minutes ago.” Lance pointed out. 

 “Because _you_ looked uncomfortable with them.”

 Keith paused, rubbing his eyes with his free hand, “Look, I can make you do everything the same way I do, but I ... don't think it's gonna work for you. You should find out what works for you. It'll take some time but once you get the hang of it. Everything will just ...” he made a double spin with his sword, smiling,  _“click."_

 His smiled vanished as he looked up at Lance.  Uncertainty reaching his face, “Does that make any sense?”

 It made a lot of sense, but Keith looked like he really didn't think it would. In fact, Lance could tell he'd been struggling to find the right things to say through the whole conversation. The amount of effort he was putting in wording things to Lance made Lance’s chest warm up. Keith was trying his best to help out. The smile was automatic.

 “Yeah, it does.”

 To be honest, It would be nice to feel the same amount of control he had over his guns, over this too, to be just as comfortable with the sword. Instead of spending so much time worrying if his form was correct, his feet were in the right place, he could just  ... act. 

 Lance took a breath in, activating the bayard in his hand. He stared at the sword. It hadn't taken the same form as Keith’s bayard. Perhaps, it was the fact that it had taken an Altean form that made him want to use the Altean techniques.

 But the truth was the bayards mirrored their owners. The bayard had taken the form that best matched him. Not Keith, not King Alfor, but _him._  There was only so far he could follow in their footsteps. He couldn't fight like them, because at the end of day, no matter how much anyone wanted him to be, he _wasn't_ them. He was Lance.

_Find out what works for you._

 He could do that. He could learn how to fight like himself. Hopefully it would be enough. Hopefully the others would think it's enough.

_Hopefully._

_“_ You're right.” He nodded towards Keith. The other boy had stayed silent, as if he somehow knew Lance needed the space. “Huh, I guess there is a first for everything.” 

 The big smile that had taken over Keith's face didn't waver at the jab. Neither did the look in his eyes. Lance had seen the same look on him every time they defeated a rather hard to kill enemy, or every time he finished one of the harder levels in training. Lance had no idea why he had it now.

“I still think we should check my form. You know to have a good starting point to _go_ _with the flow_ from there?” 

 “I suppose,” Keith agreed, gesturing him to do so. 

 He placed his chin in his hand, watching Lance as he took his stance. As soon as Lance did, he said, “Your feet are way too far apart. ”  

 Lance took a look down while maintaining his stance, “Yeah, I read it helps with stability?”

 “Read ...? This is really important to you, huh?” Keith whispered. Lance deciding Keith had stated that for himself and not as a question, didn't reply. Keith did.

 “Yeah, for defence it helps, but it stops you from moving fast.” 

 “Well, for _me_ it does. It might work for you. Nothing is set in stone.” he quickly added.

 Alright. Lance shrugged, changing his footwork accordingly. “Pun intended?”

 Keith's eyebrows knitted together, “What pun?” 

 “Set in stone?” Lance raised his brow, “Excalibur? King Arthur? Come on, man, work with me here.”

 Keith made a small snort,  “Not intended ... but a welcome accident.”

  _Of-freaking-course_ the only reference he knew was about swords, Lance wasn't even surprised. They did still teach Arthurian legend at schools, so of course he _did. But_ Lance decided he was still adding ‘Sword in the stone’ and ‘Merlin’  to the pile of things he was gonna make Keith watch when they finally returned to earth.

 Really, that list kept getting longer by the second. At this rate they would have to spend their entire first year back on earth just rewatching old shows. Didn't sound too bad though. Sitting on the yellow couch he had back in his room, a pile of his mom's homemade extra buttery popcorn next to them. The image of Keith and himself occupying the soft couch, under a warm blanket, Keith probably falling asleep halfway through the movie, and his head falling on Lance's shoulder felt too ... _snuggly—for_ the lack of any better words to describe or Lance's denial of existing of one—so hr decided to add everyone else to the picture too. 

 “You prefer your right hand?”

 Keith's voice draw him out of the thoughts.

“Huh?”

 Keith had taken a place next to him, mirroring his form precisely. He looked back and forth between himself and Lance, as if trying to find out what felt wrong.

 “You prefer your right hand, right?

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, the way he had asked that it was like he kn- _no way_.

 “What do you mean _‘prefer’?”_  

 Keith's eyebrows knitted together, “Aren't you, can't you ...? You're ambidextrous , right?”

 Lance could only blink at him with an open mouth. Apparently Keith took that as a no.

 He faltered, holding up his hand, “Sorry, I just assumed—”

 “No, no. You're right, I am.  Just,” Lance finally found his voice, “How do you know about that?”

 “You shoot with both hands?” Keith sshrugged a shoulder as if that was the most normal thing to know.

 It wasn't.

 It wasn't a secret, if anyone asked, Lance would tell them. He used to tell that to everyone when he was younger. But not many outside his family seemed to think much of it. So in time he'd stopped saying it; the lack of excitement dissolving the pride he had used to feel. And since he usually just used his right hand, no one ever noticed.

 He doubted anyone on the team knew—beside Hunk, whom Lance told to himself. And it really wasn't the kind of important thing that anyone should know, But apparently Keith had noticed.

 “Yeah, I prefer right,” he answered, trying to stop his voice from cracking. It wasn't a big deal but,

 Keith had noticed.

 Keith had paid enough attention to notice.

 Something warm bubbled in Lance's chest. His chest did that quite a lot these days. And conveniently Keith was always around when it happened.

 Keith didn't reply, he continued to inspect Lance's form. “I think you're bending too much?”

 Lance straightened his back, “Better?”

 “Nope, too much. You're knees should still be bent.”

 Lance tried to do do so but Keith shook his head at him.

 “Now, you're just crouching.”

 A few more times of him picking on Lance's form— Seriously, for a guy who just spent all that time convincing him to do whatever felt right for _him,_  he sure as hell was being bloody picky—Lance groaned, “Keith, just show me whatever you expect me to do.” At this rate, they would probably never leave the room otherwise.

 Keith sighed, “Did you a hear a word I said? That's not gonna work. I'm trying to find something that'll work for _you,_ not me _.”_

 Oh,Lance suddenly felt childish for whining. _He's trying to help, you jackass._

 “Okay, well I think it's clear you're not doing that from over there, just get over here, and I don't know? _Correct_ whatever I'm doing?” he suggested.

 Keith held his for a second, and then without a word he walked closer to him. He hesitated in the last step, standing in front of him, “Is it okay if I ...?” he asked, pointing to him.

 Lance couldn't help teasing. Keith was just too adorably awkward, “Keith, buddy, you've already held my _sword,_ I think we're past this.” he gestured between them.

  At least, some tension seemed to roll off Keith's shoulders with the huff of laughter that escaped him. 

 But Lance's laugh was caught in his throat—it did not turn into a squeak, _nope, not at all_ —when Keith kneeled down in front of him.

 Okay, so that's a new angle to look at Keith.

 Keith changed his footing, angling his leg. He was too focused to notice the ... awkwardness. Well, there were alot of things other than awkwardness going on in Lance's head. But he chose to only acknowledge that one.

 And there was only one way Lance knew to make that better.

 “So like, don't trip me or anything. Heh,” he made a laugh.

 He was once again reminded that he really should keep his mouth shut when he was feeling awkward. Cause Keith looking up at him through those freakishly long eyelashes was not making anything better.

 “How am I supposed to trip you when you're standing still?” 

He returned back to his work, unaware of what his amused smirk had done to Lance. He placed his hands behind Lance's knees; pushing them towards eachother and then backwards, making Lance stand straighter.

 Yeah, like _that's_ what Lance was thinking about right now, not being busy damning whoever designed the stupid armours for using only fabric to cover the small part right behind the knees. Lance could feel Keith's fingers through the fabric. No really, Who the hell designed these things? That's a sensitive spot, it should be protected more than other parts _not_ less.

 Keith apparently satisfied with his work stood up. He placing his hand under his chin again, biting on his lips. Eyes focused as he circled Lance.

 Actually, he did more of a half of a circle.

 Lance’s brain screamed ‘ _Abort mission’_  when Keith stood behind him. Like _right_ behind him. He placed his hands on Lance's shoulders, pulling them back just a little. _Holy fuck_ , he was too close 

 “You should probably cock your hips.”

 “What?” He should what _what_ now? 

 Instead of answering Keith moved his hands down to settle on Lance's sides, hips, turning him to the left.

 There were no gasps on Lance's side. That's just how he breathes.

 “Can you activate your shield?”

 Lance activated the shield, holding his hand in defensive position.

 Hopefully, Keith didn't hear how loud he swallowed when he put his arm over Lance's, bringing it closer.

 Yeah _right,_ if he didn't have super hearing, he was still close enough to hear _that._

 “Try angling yourself, it helps me with the balance.”

“I don't really think balance would be an issue for me, I've already got most of it.”

 Lance didn't need to turn around to know Keith had a confused look on his face.

 “You know, cause ba _Lance_.”

 “Wow, that's ... that's  _bad,”_ Keith snorted, behind him.

 Which Lance was not focusing on; nor was he focusing on the fact that he could feel Keith exhale on his neck; nor that he could feel Keith's other hand still on his hip—why were his fingers so warm by the way; nor mourn it when Keith removed it to settle it around Lance's right hand. 

 Lance had to physically shake his head to make his brain focus on Keith's advices instead. Keith wasn't a verbal person, but he really seemed to be trying to word his thoughts. So Lance tried to remember every little recommendation.

 “Your hand shouldn't be that far away.”

 Lance draw his hand closer, repeating the motion with Keith's arm around his.

 “Huh, so like—” Lance turned his head to ask. But Keith was just _there._  His face wasn't even inches farther from Lance's. Purple eyes looked into his, and Lance found himself unable to breathe. How were his eyes even more purple this close? How had Lance never noticed his irises turned brighter just right around the pupils? The same ones that were dilating as Lance looked into them. “—this?” He wasn't even sure the word left his lips.

 Keith stood there, close enough that Lance could count the spikes in his eyes, feel his breath ghost over his skin, feel his warmth just around him. And then suddenly he let go of Lance. Stepping back quick enough that Lance felt like he'd lost a limb.

 Keith's lowered his head, hiding behide his bangs. “Y-yeah, like that.” 

 His nose was back to being red, which _again_ Lance wasn't focusing on.

 Plus, they couldn't be redder than _his_ ears, and neck. Yeah, hopefully Keith wasn't noticing those. Seriously, why did he have to blush with his entire being?

 Keith didn't say much for the rest of their training.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much self control this chapter took from me. So yeah :)


	18. Chapter 18

_Oh, come on, die._

_Die, you bastard. Die, die, die._

_Yes!_

 “Yeah, take that you quiznacking son of a fuck! Who just owned your ass? That's right, _I_ did. You little—”

 He stopped gloating at the poor dead character lying on the screen at the sound of the knock on his door. With the continuity of the knocks, he could tell who ever was on the other side had been doing it for a while. Lance might've gotten too into the game ... again.

 “Yeah?” 

  _“Finally.”_

 “Come on in.” 

 The door opened up just as Lance said the words, revealing a slouching Keith on the other side.

 Lance couldn't help the grin that took over his face as he stood up from in front of the tv.

 “They kicked you out too?”

 Keith nodded, pouting. He glared at the floor while stepping inside Lance’s room. “Yeah,” he admitted, crossing his arms over his chest, “something along the lines of ‘ _how can you be louder than Lance?’”_

 _Oh, wow, ouch_. Lance tried to hold back his snort. Hearing that must've put a serious kick to the former red paladin's pride.

 How could they even say that to him? The guy rarely spoke. Not to mention, no one could be louder than Lance.

 No one.

 Pidge and Hunk had been working on a device, which after their twenty-minute-long-explanation Lance summarized in practically a very powerful bugging device. It would allow them to listen in on the conversations on other ships without actually needing to hack into their communication system. They didn't really have a use for it at the moment, but Hunk and Pidge had decided to build it anyway. They did that sometimes; making new devices and upgrades to the lions and castle just for the heck of it. Lance supposed for them it was a way to spend time. Sometimes, he wished he could do something useful like that in his free time too. But then again, playing games was far more fun.

 They were trying to experiment on the device earlier and apparently needed absolute silence for it. Needless to say, Lance hadn't been able to keep that up. They threw him out after the fifth time he interrupted, asking Hunk a question. That had been about an hour ago. 

 Lance took a look at Keith's slouched form. He kinda looked like a stray cat. And Lance had the weird urge to pet his hair. Deciding it was too risky of a move—he could end up losing a hand, and as much as he looked up to Shiro. That was a particular thing that he didn't want to follow the man's footsteps in—so he went for wrapping a hand around his shoulders.

 “Well, we don't need them, buddy. We'll form our own duo. We can be the cool ones.” He led them to sit on the bed.

 “The ... _cool_ ones?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

 “Yeah, they're the techies. We can be the cool ones. The awesome ones to them lame brainies. The mean girls to their nerd asses. The one's who'll pick on them and throw food at them in lunch. We'll pretend we're the ones who don't want to spend time with them.”

 Lance joked. He was pretty sure Keith had never seen mean girls but he laughed all the same. He really should watch it though, it was definitely up his alley.

 “Guess it make sense now,” Keith whispered after a while.

 Lance leaned back on his palms, swinging his legs off the bed. “What makes sense?”

 “Why you always end up spending time with me.” 

 “What?” Lance sat up straight, “You think we hang out together because they don't want to?”

 Keith just shrugged. He was looking at his hands, playing with his gloves.

 He actually thought that? _Seriously?_ The frown was automatic.

 “Okay, just so you know, I'm am offended, mullet. I'm really _really_ offended,” Lance crossed his arms over his chest, “I don't think you've ever offended me _this_ much.” 

 “Really? Not even that time I said your smolder was as useless as ...” 

 His amused voice trailed off into a small laugh at Lance's side glare. He was not insulting Lance’s charismatic ways with people  _again._

“Nope, not even then,” Lance clarified.

 Technically that had happened way long ago. They hadn't spent much time in space, and well, back then, he and Keith fought on everything. Lance threw a big fit when Keith had commented his flirtations never worked. It was a dumb fight, and not like Keith had been wrong. 

 _This,_ however, was nothing like that. Keith was not allowed to think things like that.

 “You know, you're not the _only_ person on this ship other than those two. I can hang out with anyone I want, _or_ I can just stay in my room. No one's putting a gun to my head. If I spend time with you, it's because I _want to,_ not because I have to. And I'll have you know, even if they wanted to hang out, I would still want to spend time just with you. Because I like doing it. We clear?” Lance pointed his index finger at him.

 Keith's eyes had rounded, but there was a smile on his lips. He held up his palms, “Yup.”

 “Good.”

 Lance felt satisfied when Keith's smile stayed with him for the next minutes to follow. The message had gotten through. Did he really think Lance spent time with him because he had to? Also why the hell _wouldn't_ he want to? Why would anyone not want to? So he was a little quiet, he was still amazing to be around.

 Keith stood up walking around the room. Lance realised this was the first time he was there since he'd returned to the castle. There were a few things added to Lance room since the last time he'd been here. He stopped in front of the hovering house plants.

 “These are ne—” he broke off, taking a step back in response to the plants over-glowing next to where he'd raised his hand. “What the ...?” 

 Lance laughed, walking up next to him. The plants did that sometimes. Mostly it was when Lance was watering them. They shone even more than usual where his hands were close to them. He'd made an embarrassing squeak the first time they had reacted to him, too.

 “Yeah, found them on one of the coalition planets.”

 Lance had practically begged Allura and Coran to let him buy as many of those things as their money would allow as soon as he set eyes on the shop. He'd never been a fan of plants but these little guys, he loved them. He reached his hand closer, moving it up and down next to plants, watching them as they burst in colour. They seemed to actually recognise him somehow, they always glowed more when he was close to them. They didn't shine as much when Hunk or Pidge, or even Keith now touched them. Like they knew they were his. Hunk called it ‘ _very freaky.’_

 He could feel Keith's eyes move from the plants to stay on him.

 “Never took you for a cactus loving kinda guy.”

 His voice was playful but Lance still frowned, “They're _not_ cactuses.”

 Keith looked back at the plants and back at him, quirking his eyebrow. “Uh, yeah, they are.”

 “They are _not.”_

 Keith gave him a deadpan look that screamed ‘ _Are you serious?!’_ “Lance, I've lived most of my life in desert, I know what a cactus looks like.”

 “They are not cactuses.” 

 “They are.”

 “No, they are _not! That_ word shall not be used in my presence, and if you try to call my babies that again you'll be kicked out of _this_ room too,” Lance threatened. He squinted at Keith to prove how much he meant that. 

 It didn't seem to affect Keith. He snorted, “Your _babies?”_

 “I'm serious.”

 Keith looked at him like he was considering going for the debate or not. He shrugged eventually “So why are your _non_ -cactus-” he gave Lance a look, as if his tone wasn't already saying ‘ _they so very clearly are cactuses’_ , _“-babies_ glowing like that?”

 “Don't know, Pidge has some theories but she's not sure. She wanted to _dissect_ them. Can you believe that? How could she even think that? they're so _pretty!”_ he pointed to them.

 It was no secret that Lance absolutely adored pretty things. It didn't mean he was shallow, he knew there were more important things, but didn't mean he couldn't appreciate beautiful things.

  And ‘ _wanted to’_  was one way to put Pidge's efforts. After Lance's initial refusal to her suggestion of opening his plants up to see their insides, she had tried to actually steal one of them from him. Lance had had to use numerous different threats, which many included ending their friendship, to keep her away from them. Seriously, that girl was a safety hazard to everyone.

 “Yeah,” Keith agreed, tone laced with awe as he moved his hand around one of the smaller plants. It shone with neon red.

 Lance couldn't keep his eyes from roaming over to look at him. The light from the plants shined on his face, colouring his skin. Different shades of colour danced on his face, each fighting to remain there. They reflected in his eyes, making them look like they glowed.

 Yeah, there was nothing wrong with appreciating beautiful things.

 Lance let Keith admire the plants as he returned to his initial seat on the ground. He unpaused the game.

 No sound came from Keith through the whole level, Lance turned back to look at him once he finished. He had settled on the bed again. His back rested to the wall at the foot of the bed, a pillow in hilap which he rested his elbows on. _He really looks like a cat_. He was watching the screen with a pout.

 “Are you planning on sitting there pouting all evening or are you actually gonna come here and play?” Lance asked.

 “No, I think I'm good sitting here and ...” Keith paused his brows knitting in a frown, “I don't _pout.”_

 “And red's not red.”

 Keith looked at him with a confused face.

 Lance let the grin take over his face, “Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were saying things that are obviously not true.”

 Keith's eyebrows furrowed mire, “I _don't_ pout.”

 “Are you serious?” Lance snorted.

But Keith's face suggested that he was very serious. It turned Lance’s snort to a full blown laugh.

 “Oh my god, you _are.”_

 “Stop laughing.” 

 Keith's words had the opposite effect.

 “You actually think you don't ...” Lance trailed off to a chuckle.

 “Stop laughing! I _don't.”_

 Lance ducked the pillow Keith sent flying at him, not like it would hurt even if it did hit him.

 Once he was done laughing, he smirked at Keith, “Hate to break it to you, mullet, but you do. _All_ the time. It's like your primary reaction to anything. I think _pouting_ consists like ninety percent of your expression; You're happy, you pout; you're upset, you pout; you're angry, you pout. In fact you're pouting right now,” Lance pointed to him.

 Keith's eyes went sideways as he tried to look at his own face, it brought another snort out of Lance. Keith ended up pouting even more when he failed. _Wow._

 “Shut up.” 

 “Come on, _pouty Mc. Pout face,_ ” Lance patted the floor next to him, “beat me in this level, and I'll promise I'll never bring your poutiness up again.”

 Keith looked at the controller from the corner of his eye. He sighed, getting up and sitting down next to Lance, “Deal.”

 He probably thought he had nothing to lose, Lance smirked as he hit play, “But if I win, I'm making that you're new nickname.”

 “What? No, I didn't agree to that.”

 Keith lost, miserably. Lance spent the entire dinner making fun of his pout. The others joined forces with him too.

 

 Lance closed the tablet, placing it on the nightstand. He rubbed his eyes, his head hurt. As much as he enjoyed reading in Altean, it hurt his eyes when he read too much of it. Specially on a subject with technical words like that. It tired his brain, but it was important.

 He lowered the lights. His eyes began warming up even before he crawled under the blanket. He was about to drift off when he got called.

 “Lance?”

 Keith's voice came through the wall next to him. It brought a smile to his lips even in his sleepy state.

 “Yeah?”

 “Thanks for the ... not-cactuses.”

 Keith had looked fascinated enough with the plants that Lance decided to give him a few of them—Well, for the time being. Keith could decide what to do with them once he went back for the blade. The thought was so drowning. But Lance wasn't foolish enough to think the day wasn't getting closer—He'd left two of the smaller ones hovering outside Keith's door with a note attached to them.

 “Take good care of my babies, or you're paying,” he threatened.

 He over heard the snort.

 “I will. Cross my heart and hope to die.” 

 Lance laughed. He was half way in the dreamland when Keith spoke up again.

 “Lance?”

 “Hmm?”

 “I, I like spending time with you too.”

 Maybe it wasn't just half way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have absolutely no verbal filter when I'm playing games. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume Lance is like that too :)
> 
> This was really short, I know. I'm sorry, but I had a ton of things to do, but I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. (probably) 
> 
> Everyone is mentioning the sexual tension between these two dorks, and I'm sitting here with an evil grin on my face like _nope,_ this is still slow burn. _Sloooooowwwww burn._  
>  Sorry, not sorry ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	19. Chapter 19

 There was a small broken part in the innerside of the armrest. Keith was busying himself with pulling it back and watching it bounce back. He'd gotten tired of playing on the tablet. Pidge had installed a bunch of mini games on his communicator device, but to be honest, they just pissed him off everytime he played them.

 Lance was lying on the couch next to his. He hadn't said a word in the past half an hour. Whatever he was doing on his tablet, had all his attention, so Keith had decided not to bother him.

 The sound of footsteps closing in, piqued his interest. Ever since he'd been back, he'd come to recognize and distinguish everyone's steps, even from far. These were quite ones, but the time between each step was short and there was a small hopping to them; they belonged Pidge. He got a small sense of satisfaction when he was proven right as she stepped in. It did not last very long.

 “Well, if it isn't the sword buddies.”

 Keith resisted the urge to sigh as he lowered his head. Pretending to stare at a corner on the floor so his eyes wouldn't catch her teasing ones. She had thrown a comment about that at any given opportunity. _Any._  

 Before his face had a chance to warm up Lance answered her.

 “Let it go, Pidge. It's been two days, it's not funny anymore.” he said, not even looking up from his tablet. He was really handling this better than Keith would've thought.

 “Yeah, from where I'm standing, it _is,”_ she wriggled her eyebrows, dumping her stuff on the table.

 “Well then, quit standing there. This is a big castle, and you're an  _extra_ tiny person. I'm sure you can easily find another place to stand.”

 Keith's snorted at Lance’s snarky tone, it was actually quite entertaining when it wasn't directed at him.

 Well, It was entertaining even then, but with side dishes of infuriation ... or fondness, depending on the situation.

 Lance turned to look at him at the noise. The smirk on his face turned softer as he winked at Keith, earning another snort. 

 Pidge sent a glare to both of them, making a face at Lance before throwing his legs off the end of the couch to sit there. As soon as she did though, Lance returned them back to their previous spot which now was on top of Pidge's lap.

 “Seriously?” she huffed at him trying to push the shoes off herself. Her endeavours were to no avail.

 “Hey, no one forced you to sit here.” Lance pointed out, gesturing to the the rest of the empty lounge.

 Pidge stuck her tongue out at him and shrugged, setting her laptop on Lance's legs.

 Watching the interaction brought a smile to Keith's lips. With all her complaints towards the tall boy, it was quite clear how much she cared about him. And Keith knew how important she was to Lance. Even if he teased her all the time, their dynamic was sibling like.

 They really had their small little family here, didn't they?

 Why did Keith give it up again?

 He frowned as every reason rushed to his brain all at once.  He shook his head, clearing the thoughts before they could start pulling him in. He returned his attention to the half-broken part

 Only a few minutes passed before Pidge spoke up. 

 “What are you even doing? I've never seen you so quiet.”

 She leaned to the side to get a look at the contents on the tablet in Lance's hands. It resulted in him trying to hide it.

 Their shrieks were simultaneous,

 “None of your business.”

 _“Are you reading?!_ ”

 Lance scoffed, “You don't have to sound _that_ surprised.”

Keith hid his laugh at the indignant look on Lance's face _and_ the twice-normal-size eyes of Pidge behind his hand.

 “Uh, about you _reading?_ Yeah, I _do.”_ She pushed her glasses up on her nose, looking down on Lance. Keith had been on the end of that look, it was not fun. Really, it was impressive how someone so short  could manage to look down on others like that.

 “You once asked me to build you a robot to read our text books to you so you wouldn't have to read them back at garrison. I mean, you fucking complain about reading _mission reports._  Now you expect me to believe you're reading in your free time, _willingly?”_  

 “This may come as a surprise to you, but I do have a brain, Pidgey. I can read if I want.” 

 Pidge hated being called that, which everyone knew. Keith could tell that's exactly what Lance was going for. 

 Pidge made a face at him, “You're right, that _is_ a surprise.” 

 It was Lance’s turn to stick his tongue out at her. He returned to his tablet, clearly thinking she was done.  She wasn't.

 “So, watcha reading?” 

 “None of your— _hey!”_ Lance exclaimed as Pidge stole the tablet from his hand. He tried to take it back but she'd already stood up on the couch.

 “I bet it's something smutty,” she began jumping on the couches.

 Lance followed her trail, but on the floor.

 “Give it back, Pidge.”

 “Nope,” She continued hopping off the chairs like the gremlin she was. 

 “Let's see what kind of blackmail I just found.”

 “Are you guys serious?” Keith leaned back so Pidge wouldn't crash into him as she jumped over his chair. Neither of the pair paid any attention to him.

 “Pidge, come on. Give it back.” Lance sounded extra frustrated.

 _Wonder what he's reading._  

 He took a hold of her shirt, but she kicked him in the guts getting away.

 “Ow! _Pidge!”_  

 Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. He was smiling behind the hand. These kinda things happened all the time around here.

 “Nuh-uh, you're not getting it back till I have my blackmail,” she frowned at the tablet, “how are you even reading this thing?”

 Her reading something in Altean from the tablet made Lance stop rubbing his stomach where she'd kicked him, and start following her again.

 She scratched her head, dodging Lance’s hand, “What did that mean? Oh yeah, _understanding. Better understanding of_ —” she stopped herself from saying what Keith guessed was the title of whatever book Lance was reading. She stood still, looking at Lance with wide eyes.

 “Oh.” 

 With a deep frown Lance took his tablet back out of her hand, “Yeah, like I said _none_ of your business.”

 “What's it about?”

 Keith couldn't help asking. His curiosity was piqued and he was feeling quite confused at Pidge's reaction.

 Both their heads turned to him, as if they'd forgotten he was there, before returning their looks to each other. Pidge had a frown, but Lance, Keith couldn't decide what his expression was. He was either glaring at her or looking at her with fear, perhaps a bit of both? Whichever it was, they seemed to share a non verbal conversation before Pidge finally answered.

 “Uh, the ladies. Some crap about the ladies.”

Keith only frowned as they both sat down again. There was no way He was buying Pidge's words, even if her tone hadn't been so obvious, the fact that Lance did not instantly protest to it, revealed that she wasn't telling the truth.

 His frown stayed with him for the next minutes. Why wouldn't she just tell him? He decided he'd ask Lance what it was about later ... or maybe Pidge. 

 Keith returned his attention to the armrest, his hand under his chin.

 

 About half an hour had passed when Hunk showed up. He looked in a hurry. His shirt and pants were wet, dripping water to the floor. He rested his hand on the door frame, trying to catch his breath.

 “What happened to you?” Keith asked, attracting the other two's attention to the newly arrived.  

 “Helping Coran ... fix the... pipe bursting ... water,” Hunk answered in bits, make a blowing up gesture with his hand.

 “Come on, _again?_ Please tell me it's not mine.” Lance sat up, looking at him.

 Hunk seemed to finally had regained his breath, “Yup, Coran said he needs help.” 

 “Ugh,” Lance groaned, looking at the ceiling. Keith could tell he was complaining to some god out there. “Why is it always _my_ shower?!”

 “Probably because you're using it all the time?” Hunk suggested.

 Lance pouted, getting up, “Fine, come on.” He took Hunk with him leaving the room.

 “Wha-why do I have to help?” 

 Keith heard their conversation outside.

 “Because you brought the news.” 

 “Aw, man, what happened to don't shoot the messenger?” 

 “That's ridiculous, you should always shoot the messenger. Then people will stop bringing you bad news.” 

 Keith laughed at Lance's ridiculous logic. Their voices trailed off as they walked too far for Keith to hear them. He could if he tried, but he didn't want to.

  He sat there for a while, listening to Pidge typing on the keyboard. He was about to leave when something caught his eyes. Lance had forgotten to take his tablet with him. It layed on the couch in his place.

  There was something about the look Lance'd given Pidge earlier that was bothering Keith. It looked like he _asked_ her not to say anything. What was he reading that he wouldn't want Keith to know? And why had Pidge looked at Lance with something like admiration after it?

 Or he was probably just imagining things. Keith told himself.

 But he couldn't keep his eyes from gluing to the device. It bothered him. Lance didn't usually keep things from him. He ended up fully breaking the small part in the armrest in his frustration.  

 Deposing of the small wooden part behind the chair, he stood up, sitting next to Pidge. “So, what was Lance reading about?”

 She sat a little straighter but kept her eyes on her laptop, “Something like how to woo ladies or something.”

 See, Keith could hear the small shake to her voice. She _was_ lying _._ He held back his scoff.

 “Oh, well, anyway, I'll be in the training room.”

 She snorted, “Yeah, like I couldn't have guessed that's where you're gonna be.” 

 Yet, Keith had no intention of going to the training room, he'd been training since morning. He stood outside the room, staring at what he'd took from the couch. The tablet in his hands was not his.

 He shouldn't, he really shouldn't. If Lance didn't want him to know he should respect that.

 It's just ... why would they lie?

 He made his way to his room as quick as he could, feeling very disappointed in himself. He could practically hear Shiro's dismissive tone that he shouldn't do this.

 He sat on the bed, with the tablet in his hands. Thankfully Allura had set a rule that they couldn't put passwords on their devices, no matter how much Pidge and Lance had protested. Her reasoning had been omething along the lines of they didn't have time to write passwords in case of emergencies.

 Keith bit his lips as he turned the screen on. He really shouldn't do this. He opened the last program used. The book opened up on the screen.

 Keith only stared at lines and lines of Altean words. How the hell was Lance reading this?

 Keith had a basic knowledge of altean language, everyone at the castle did. But to be honest, he'd never been good at reading Altean, it looked like a jumbled mess of symbols to him. It was much easier for him to read galran, for obvious reasons. He only had learned a few Altean words to let him use necessary things in castle.

 But this was entirely Altean, there was no way he could read it. He groaned, scrolling through the pages. He could make out a few words here and there but the rest just looked ... well _alien._ He could use the castle's translator, but Pidge had control over them and there was a chance it would notify her.

 He paused as something popped up to the page. _What's that?_  Oh, Lance had left notes. Well that could be useful. _And very crossing the line!_ Part of him screamed at him but his curiosity got the better of him. 

 The first few notes didn't make any sense, but then they _did._ Keith's brows knitted more as he kept on reading the notes. When his hands started shaking, he turned the tablet off, throwing the it to his bed.

 Well, no wonder Lance didn't want him to know about it. He really couldn't think of any reason Lance would be reading a book about _that subjest_  other than him.

 The anger filled him up quickly. He might not have had the right to read this, but neither had Lance.

 Keith knew he meant well. He'd done nothing but help Keith and be there for him since Krolia got there. He _knew_ Lance meant well, it still did not stop his hands from curling into fists. 

 Oh no, it was something else that stopped that. 

 “Coran, my gorgeous man, this is getting a bit ridiculous. For a magical castle, this castle sucks.” 

 Lance's voice travelled from next door.

 “This castle does _not_ suck, my grand—” 

 Coran's offended voice was cut off by Lance, “Yes, yes, we _know_ , your granddaddy built it but it still sucks. I mean this is the third time this month, Coran.” 

 “Yes, well it was not built for water use as much as an entire aquatic race.”

 Hunk's laugh was followed by Lance’s indignant protest, “Oh my god, I do not shower _that_ much, you people.”  

 “Then, why is it always your shower that breaks?” 

 “I don't know, maybe the castle has it against me!” 

  Keith could tell by the sound of his voice, he would be pouting and crossing his arms over his chest right about now. So Keith just sat there, listening to Lance complain to Coran. Feeling more pissed as somehow the sound of Lance's voice was managing to take his anger away. It was annoying how Lance could enrage him, and calm him down without even knowing. Keith sighed, dropping his face to his hands. God, he was so screwed. 

 Something red in the corner of his eyes took his attention. The small hovering plants on his nightstand was glowing again. Lance had not warned him about the random beating glowy thing they did at night. He'd thought the thing was about to eat him when he woke up last night and it was glowing in an ominous light.

 The sticky note was still attached to it; 

 

> **‘You looked like you like them, so here have a _not-_ cactus to light up your uglyass empty room.**
> 
> **P.S. you better _not_ forget to water them. If anything happens to them, you're a dead man walking.** **’**

 And then there was a small doodle of a stick figure getting hanged. It was so bad that it  managed to bring a smile to Keith even in his upset state. 

_Ugh, god damn Lance._

 “Fine, guess I won't go yelling at him, you happy?” Keith told to the stupid plant.

 He almost fell off the bed when it stopped glowing. God, those things were sentient. Pidge should've opened them up and burned them all.

 He returned the tablet to the lounge when he was sure no one was there.

 He had a right to be mad but he decided he wasn't going to mention anything. And he really wasn't going to.

 But then Lance had to go and do _that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you feel the conflict coming up? Cause, I can ;)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”_
> 
> \- Maya Angelou

  Keith walked round the training deck for the... he'd lost how many times. He was waiting for Lance to join him for training. They've had a few sparing sessions together but this was the first time they were trying long-range and surprisingly Keith found himself quite excited.

 He checked the time again. Lance wasn't one known for punctuation but—even ignoring Keith showing up early out of the surprisingly amount of excitement he had for trying this out with Lancw—he was late.

 Really late.

 Still the smile found its way to Keith's lips as soon as he heard the whoosh. He looked up at the door. 

  _No._

 Keith stiffened as Krolia walked in. No sign of Lance behind her. She stood in front of him, her smile felt like a mockery to his recently deceased one.

 “Hey, Lance sent me here—”

Keith cut her off with a scoff.

 “Is he serious?” his fingers curled into fists as he moved past her, walking to the door, “Is he fucking _serious?”_   

 “Keith, wait a tick, he said—”

 “I don't _care_ what he said! _Stay out of It_.”

 He shouted back, not bothering to give her a look. The anger was quick to swell up in him. For once it wasn't directed at her. Oh no, the honour went to Lance this time. He could _not_ do this.

 There was a lot Keith was fine letting Lance do. He'd earned that much. But _this?_  Going behind Keith back? That was too much.

 Who the fuck gave Lance the right?

 Something more than blood pulsed in his veins as he marched down the halls. He came across Hunk and Pidge in the lounge.

 “Where's Lance?”

 They both jumped up in their seats. 

 “Dude, _what_ did he do?” Pidge laughed _,_  “cut your hair in sleep or something? _”_ she tilted her head looking at him, or more precisely his hair.

 Keith wasn't in the mood to play along for her amusement.

  _“Where_ is he?” he gritted.

 Hunk held up a hand, “Whoa, hey, calm down. Are you—”

 “Do you know where he is, or _not?”_ Keith demanded. He was aware his fingers were pressing the back of the couch they were sitting on with too much force.

 Well, if it broke, they could blame it on Lance.

 Hunk seemed to share a look with Pidge, the concern obvious on his face. She eventually shrugged giving him the get go.

 “Allura and Shiro were having a meeting with some of the ... coalition planets, I think. He's probably with them?”

 By the time Hunk's sentence finished Keith was already out of the room. He heard Hunk call after him but he didn't stop. One would've thought with how hard he was stomping his steps, some of his anger would leave him. It wasn't. In fact, the loud footsteps only echoed back to him hurting his ears and enraging him even more. His senses hyped up even more than usual when he was emotional. A fact tgat he did not appreciate.

 He barged in the room, cutting whatever Shiro was saying.

 “I need to talk to Lance.”

 There was no asking ‘Can I?’ If he had to he would drag Lance out of there.

 Lance couldn't just do things like that.

 “Keith, we're kinda in the middle of something here?” Lance pointed to the screen, there was one of the rebel captains on the screen calling.

 “I don't _care._ Out,  _now!”_

 Everyone's eyes rounded at his tone. Lance's expression changed as if just then noticing something was seriously wrong. Keith held his gaze, letting him know how much he was not messing around.

Lance turned to Shiro, opening his mouth but Shiro beat him to talking.

 “Just go,” he sighed, gesturing for him to leave.

 “It's not like I was the one who asked you to be here in the first place,” he added under his breath.

 Lance's frown deepened as he nodded. He walked out the bridge beind Keith.

 “Keith, what was that ab—”

 Keith didn't let him finish. His patience had run out. He grabbed Lance's arm, not very kindly, pulling him after him.

  _“Ow,_  Keith, slow down. You're gonna pull my arm off.”

 “Hey, I'm talking to you.” 

 Despite Lance's complaints Keith did not let go of him, nor did he stop walking.

 “Where are you even going?”

 Keith had no idea. He just wanted to make sure they were far enough from everyone so no one would hear them... well, _him._

 He finally stopped in a hall way he couldn't recognise, letting go of Lance.

 Lance stumbled a step before regaing his balance. He rubbed on his just free-d hand. Rotating his arm in shoulder, he glared at Keith. “Look, whatever you're angry about, can't you just voice it like civilized people instead of this?”

 Oh, he was gonna voice it. Lance could be sure of that.

 “Who the hell do you think you are?”

 Keith startled himself with how raw and guttural his voice came out. He flinched when his yell resonated through the hall and back to his ears. He fought the urge to cover them with his hands to shield them from the loudness.

 Lance looked taken aback too. “What are—”

 “Keep your nosey nose out of my business!”

 “Keith, what are you talking about?” Lance looked like he honestly had no idea.

  _“Krolia!_ That's what I'm talking about.” Lance's expression changed as the words escaped Keith,   “You've been on my ass since I told you about her. How about you back off?”

 “Why the hell are you even on her side?” Keith demanded. The loud sound, and his temples throbbing, were already giving him a headache.

 “Will you quit yelling?”

 At Keith's unchanged face Lance sighed, “ _On her side?_  Keith, I _just_ met her, I don't even know her. Of course I'm not on her side. I’m on your side. I'm just trying to help you fix this.”

 His eyes were filled with understanding, and he was using that tone. The one he usually used to calm Keith down. The combination only managed to anger Keith more.

 He wasn't sure at Lance or at himself.

 “Help me fix this? and what’s exactly is  _this_? ...  _Me?”_ he hated how his voice cracked.

 Lance's eyebrows knitted even more together, “What are you even ...? No, _of course_ _not._  That's not what I said.”

 “Really, isn't it?” Keith huffed, “then why are you reading that stupid book? What even gives you the right to psychoanalyse me?” he poked Lance in the chest.

 It had taken him some time to decode Lance’s notes on the damn book last night. But unless Lance was planning on picking a career in psychology once they returned to earth, there just wasn't another reason for him to be reading on abandonment issues.

 Lance's face heated by the argument was quick to lose color, but he did not back away.

 He never did, never ran out of fights with Keith. Shiro was the only other person who'd ever done the same. He never gave up on Keith. Everyone else gave up, shook their heads, or backed away. Some of them looking scared and Keith knew he looked frightening when all he could see was red.

 But not Lance, never Lance. He argued with him, tried to reason with him rather than giving up. It didn't matter who was right. He always stood his ground to Keith, stared at him with those defiant stubborn blue eyes.

 He always stood at level with Keith. An equal.

 “I admit that was too much, but I only did that so I would know what to do and what not to do, so we wouldn't end up in situations ... well, situations like this,” Lance gestured around them.

 “What? Don't have  _common sense_ to tell you that?” Oh, that was such an unfair thing for Keith to say to him. But no one cared for fair in a fight. 

 “Hey, man, I'm just trying to help here,” Lance took a step forward.

 “I don’t remember asking for your help.” Something in his brain screamed at him what he was doing. He might not have asked for it but he sire as hell did  _need_ it.

 “Yeah? So _what?”_ Lance rebuked, “No one ever _asks_ for my help.”  

 “Then maybe you should take the hint and _stop!”_

 “I can't stop!”

 “Why the hell not?” Keith asked. In hindsight, he was too out of control to take the hint in Lance's tone.

 “Because helping people deal with their shit is my job here. My _only_ job here. Because if I'm not doing that, then exactly what the hell am I doing for this team?”

 Keith opened his mouth, ready to throw back answer only to figure out he had nothing to say as Lance's words settled in. He closed his mouth, eyes staying on the frozen ones across him. 

 Lance made a bitter laugh, “Yeah Keith, it's not all about _you._ I'm just a selfish bastard who wants to make himself feel better.”

 Lance’s voice was just as loud as Keith's had been up to that point, but there was so much more than anger in his tone. He turned away from Keith, rubbing his face and sighing.

 Keith could only watch. Everything about him, his slouched posture, the small shake in his breaths sent Keith's anger away as fast as it had flowered within him. Replaced by a terrible feeling in his gut as he tried to digest the newly revealed information.

 Keith couldn't say he hadn't been shocked the first time Lance had voiced his doubts to him. Because he had been, a lot. Even thinking back on it now and then he felt the same shock. It was months ago when Lance come to him with the offer to step out of the team. The way Lance had acted, it was like he, somehow for some reason, believed  _he_ was weakest one on the team.

 _Why_ he would ever think that? It was beyond Keith's knowledge or power of imagination considering at the time Lance was the very thing that kept their team from falling apart. 

 Either way, that had been an eye-opening moment to Keith.

 Keith wasn't sure why he'd never considered Lance having doubts before. He was human, of course he had them. but the way he acted, the confidence he showed, it almost made it impossible to behind it. Guess Lance had some walls of his own too. A bravado to hide the fears behind. Keith wasn't that surprised that he hadn't been able to not see through that before that with how good of a bravado it was.

 And yet, he _was._ He couldn't believe He hadn't been able to see through it. Sure, Lance was good at managing his feelings. And Keith wasn't even sure the other's doubts were constant or came and went with time—Lance was always quick to recover from anything, to take hold of himself, so—Keith's guess would be the latter.

 Still he could see the self-doubt in small things. Things that if you didn't know what to look for, you couldn't find. Ever since that night, Keith had tried to look for them. Maybe he hadn't found much before he left for the blade or perhaps he'd had too much on his mind at the time to properly pick up on them, but ever since being back he'd noticed both an increase and, a in a way, a decrease in them.

 It was just Lance was so different. He had grown, even more than he had before. Not that he wasn't still his confident jokester self, but his personality had very clearly come to a more grown place. He was more serious, more goal-orientated when needed, gave more attention to the others— _yes,_ even more than before—and Keith had seen how much more the others respected him, listened to him. Those were all things that had started when Keith had still been there. It was as if Lance had kept all his good characteristics but was growing out of his bad ones. He was in a less cocky-way more confident.

 But there was something more. Something wrong, he seemed to both had _gained_ trust in himself and _lost_ it. 

  Keith's hands reached forward, aching to go somewhere but he didn't know where, so he let them slid back down to his sides. Instead he took a step forward.

“You're not selfish.”

 Lance ran a hand through his hair, making a quiet laugh, “Can't believe I made this about me.” he whispered.

 He turned to look at Keith. The smile on his lips wasn't the one Keith was used to seeing there. It didn't make Keith want to smile back. 

 “It's not. Look, you seemed like you were fine with talking to her, so I thought it was okay if I sent her to give a message. Clearly I was wrong. If I had known you were _this_ not okay with it, obviously I wouldn't.”

 Keith blinked at Lance, feeling something turning in his stomach.

 “Sent her to what?”

 Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, the rebellion meeting just came up and Allura asked me to stay. And I wasn't sure how long it was gonna take so I asked Krolia to tell you I wasn't showing up. I should've come there myself, sorry.”

 Oh god, see this is exactly why Shiro always asked him to calm down before jumping down to conclusions. 

 Ugh.  _Great job, Keith. You managed to ignore the single most important advice Shiro's ever given you._  

 Equal amounts of guilt and shame took over him. Lance wasn't the dick here, he'd been only trying to be nice. Oh, no Keith had acted like the dick here. If only he'd given Krolia a second to explain.

 He covered his eyes with a hand, sighing, “Oh, I thought, I thought you were setting me up to spend time with her.” God, it sounded so stupid. 

 Lance frowned, but his voice was soft as he spoke, placing his fingers barely on Keith's shoulder, “Keith, I wouldn't do that, _ever._ Not without asking you first.”

 Keith knew that. Lance had been nothing but respecting and understanding and he'd never broken any boundaries Keith in his angry state hadn't even stopped to think. He hated when he acted like that.

 “I know, I know.”

 Lance gave him another smile, “And I admit, the book was a mistake on my side. If it bothers you that much, I  swear I won't lay eyes on it again,” he made a cross on his chest, earning a small laugh.

 Right about now the wall behind him looked like a great place for Keith to bash his own head to. 

 “I only was trying to know what not to do, not _psychoanalyse_ you,” Lance did a lopsided smilr, “Trust me if I was gonna psychoanalyse anyone, I'd start by myself. You're not the only one with issues.”

 “Yeah.”

 “Though, I'm not opposed to you getting that anger under control. I honest to god thought you were gonna pull my arm out of socket.”

 A new wave of guilt took over Keith as Lance rubbed on his arm.

 “Sorry, I didn't mean to ... I'm _sorry.”_  He bit his lip.

 “It's fine, dude,” Lance reassured him with a dismissing wave of his hand. “trust me it's nothing compared to the way Veronica used to pull my hand. You should've seen the way we fought, seriously girls fight dirty. There's a reason guys don't fight with girls, and trust me, it's not because we're afraid of hurting _them._ I still have bite marks from when we were little, her teeth cut to amputate. _”_

 He knew talking about his family was usually a way for Lance to calm down. It calmed _him_  down too, so he let Lance go on. A breath escaped him when Lance showed him the back of his hand. A curved white scar on it. He could still make out the singular teeth  marks. 

_Wow._

 “Yeah,” Lance nodded, “I'm not kidding, she's a danger to mankind. A lot like Pidge, just taller. Oh, god we should never let them meet.” 

 Keith looked around the hallway. He had absolutely no idea where in the castle they were; he let Lance lead as they started walking, “Don't you have to get back to the meeting?”

 “Nah, not like I was welcomex in the first place.” 

 Keith frowned, but before he could ask, Lance was speaking again.

 “Anyway, now that our schedule is opened up, wanna go train?” 

He stopped in his track turning to Keith with a horrified look on his face, “Oh my god, what have I turned into?” he pointed an index finger to Keith, “You're having bad effects on me, mullet!”

 Keith only answered with a smile. Yeah, Lance always bounced back to his normal self in matter of minutes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a rollercoaster. 
> 
> I did a lot, and I mean _a lot_ , of research on abandonment issues before starting this fic. It was very informing—and scary, cause apparently most of us do have emotional abandonment issues to some extent. 
> 
> And a lot of people who are not just in a relationship, but even friends with someone with attachment issues seem to struggle a lot, too; not knowing when they're pushing too much and constantly worrying about it. And well, Lance is someone who cares a lot about others and their emotions, he just wants to help in the best way he can. It's just seems like something he would do. And I just felt like it would be something Keith would be very defensive about. After all it's his worst weakness, in his eyes. 
> 
> I don't know, I felt like I should explain the way they reacted. I hope no one was disappointed :)
> 
> (Also on a side note: the rest of the angst —yes, there's gonna be more. I'm not just putting cute scenes next to each other, there's an actual plot here— will probably not be between these two as much as well, _towards_ them.)


	21. Chapter 21

 Lance forced them to take a detour to the kitchen before going to the training room, because _‘Keith, I'm not giving you a loaded gun when you have that high of a blood pressure, I value my life.’_

They ran into Hunk and Pidge there. Pidge occupying the counter. Hunk leaning to it next to her. He elbowed her when he noticed them coming in. She looked up, eyes moving from Keith to Lance, “Oh, good, You're still alive. We thought you'd be ripped into pieces by now.” she pointed her eyebrows back to Keith.

 “Well, I mean it was a close call.”

 Lance’s tone was not serious, but it still managed to stir a small ball of guilt stir inside Keith. But before his eyes had a chance to go to Lance's arm, the taller boy had wrapped it around his neck. 

 “But, _nah,_  still in one piece, one _fine_ piece might I add.” Lance gestured toward himself,  “just a little bit of miscommunication. Nothing we can't handle, right?” he looked to Keith.

 Keith just nodded.

 “See, told you,” he overheard Pidge whispering to Hunk.

 Keith pulled one of the chairs from behind the table. Only as he sat down was it that that he remebered.

 S _hit._

  “Krolia, I should probably go ... talk to her.” 

 He didn't blame Hunk and Pidge when their eyebrows shot upwards. The state of his relationship—or more precisely; _lack_ of one—with her was no secret among the the castle's residents. And in their defence, the two really seemed to try to return their expressions to normal as quick as they could.

 “I kind of blew at her ... too,” he explained to Lance. Unfortunately, Keith still considered her a stranger, and as an stranger Keith probably shouldn't have yelled at her. 

 To his surprise, Lance half way through sitting on the chair, jumped up, “I'm on it.” 

“What? No, I was the one who—” 

 “Because of me,” Lance interrupted him. He had a small smile on, but his eyes were serious as they locked onto Keith's. 

“Lance, it's not your—” 

 “Yes, it _is.”_ Lance cut in again, “It's on me.”  

Keith was about to protest again—he hated messing up but he also wasn't one to let other's take place for his mistakes—but Lance pushed him back down on the chair.

 “This is on me, and I'll handle it.”  he said, before letting go of Keith's shoulders.

  “ _Let me?”_  

 The last part was barely a whisper, of course Keith had heard it. He turned his head looking up to the boy standing next to him. Beneath the knitted eyebrows apologetic eyes were looking at him, a clear question in them. He wasn't just asking about that, Keith realized this was Lance’s way of asking if he was really forgiven.

 Of course he was. Keith nodded at him.

 The smile was fast to spread over Lance’s face.

 “Hunk, make us some of that orange thingy Coran makes for Shiro every time he looks too close to putting us all up for adoption,” he pointed to Keith, “McMullet over here could use some chilling.”

 Hunk nodded. Lance stopped midway through exitingbthe the door, looking back at Hunk aain, “Hey, you remember our ‘ _we shall never speak of this again’_ number _._.. 7, I think?” 

 “You know, Mrs. Alty?” he added after a second.

 “Of course I do, dude. How could I ever forget _that?”_  

 “Good, tell it to them,” Lance pointed towards Keith and Pidge.

 Keith witnessed as Hunk's eyes rounded to the size of soccer balls, “Are you sure? You don't exactly come out good at the end—” 

 Lance was already out of the room, “Just tell it.” 

 Hunk stared at the door, before shrugging. He leaned away from the counter. Searching one of the top shelves. 

 Keith and Pidge shared a look. Just as they were about to ask what was _that_ about, he spoke up, “Guess, it's story time.” 

 He returned with four cups, putting one in front of each. Keith picked the cup up, looking inside. The orange gooey—why was every food gooey in space?—drink didn't exactly look appetizing. Keith reacalled Coran making it for Shiro and Allura a few times. Usually when one of them seemed to be on the verge of pulling their hair out one by one because of the rest of the team... well, mostly it was because of obe of Lance or Keith's stunts, occasionally Pidge's. Oh and also every single time Slav visited the castle. Shiro really was not a fan of that guy. Keith wondered if they would bring Slav back, Shiro would act more like his dad self.

Hunk cleared his throat, “Now, let me tell you about the time Lance tried to get us out of detention by seducing Professor Altman.” 

 Keith only had taken a sip but he sputtered it all over Pidge's face. 

 _“Ew.”_  

  _“Sorry,_  sorry,” Keith immediately said, handing her a napkin but his attention and eyes were on Hunk.

 “He _what?!”_  

 Professor Altman was one of the instructors at Garrison. To be honest, Keith didn't remember much from Garrison, it seemed so far away. The only reason Keith remembered _her,_ was because she was probably the oldest person he'd ever seen. Really, she was a walking fossil. Keith had heard other students making bets on how old she was. Keith had seen her teaching id card, _seventy-three._ Keith would bet every penny to his name that age was a fake.

 How she was even allowed to teach was beyond him. She looked like something that had been living on earth before the dinosaurs did. She was the most strict person ever, all the students hated her. Even the other instructors hated her. Freaking _Iverson_ once called her a stick in the butt—Shiro sometimes let, more like _forced,_ Keith to join him in the staff room. Because apparently if Keith didn't spend time with other students, he still needed to socialize. _Why_ Shiro seemed to think it was a good idea for him to socialize with his teachers, who all looked at him like he was breaking some international law by being in that room, was beyond him—anyway, the point was she was a rigorous-barely-even-alive-walking-with-a-cane-old-lady. So Keith was entitled to be _that_ shocked. He was all ears when Hunk continued.

  “It all began with us being late because Lance refused to let me sleep, binge watching that stupid show ...” 

 Not five minutes later and Keith was crying, there were actual tears in his eyes. Pidge next to him was snorting so bad, the drink was coming out of her nose. It looked disgusting but she kept saying it was worth it.

  “... they took her in the ambulance. I still can't believe Lance ...” Hunk trailed off to chuckles.

 “Hey, at least I got us out of detention.” 

 Lance's voice made Keith turn his head. He was leaning against the door way, his arms crossed over his chest.

 Keith couldn't  help his snort, “By giving a instructor a stroke.”

 Yes, apparently her heart couldn't handle Lance flirting with her. He really shouldn't be laughing but it was impossible not to. Even if the story hadn't been hilarious, the way Hunk told it made it sound like the best story in the universe. Really, Hunk was a gift to humanity.

 “Hey, now I was just trying to flatter her,” Lance walked to the table, sitting down, “you know? use my sweet charm, how was I supposed to to know she was some sort of over-excited cougar? I mean, I know my flirting game is _on,_ but I wasn't expecting her heart to stop _literally._ ” 

 The two events had probably had happened simultaneously as a bad timing from universe, but that did not stop Keith, nor Pidge, from snickering again. But to be fair, if Keith were an eighty year old lady, who no one ever dared to even talk to and he got someone who looked like Lance flirt with him he would probably have a heart attack too. Even the last part alone would probably do that too but that was irrelevant.

 “Yeah, Lance, half-dead old ladies, that's the only people who you're flirting game is ever gonna work on... to _death,”_  Pidge dissolved into new sets of giggles. Lance making a face at her had no effect on it.

 “I gotta say, I was a little relieved, she looked like she was taking it seriously.” Hunk said.

 Lance only nodded, finishing his drink. He looked ... uncomfortable.

 “You should've seen Shiro's face when we were trying to explain what happened to him.” Hunk added.

 “Shiro _knew?”_ Keith asked,  _I can't believe he didn't tell me that._ Shiro used to complain to him of the stupid things other students did all the time. It was probably his way of telling Keith not to do the same. 

 “Yeah, he was the first officer we could find to help,” Hunk made another laugh, “I'll never forget the look on his face. He looked like he was questioning his life choices. Actually Lance was worse, I don't think I've ever seen you _that_ embarrassed in your life.” 

 “Because you were being too informative, he didn't need to know _why_ she had a stroke, just that she _did!”_ Lance protested, slumping further into his seat which made Hunk laugh even more.

 Keith knew Lance looked up to Shiro. Of course, they all did. But Lance had this way of looking at him with clear admiration, like he was some sort of a hero—which in hindsight, Keith thought so too. How could he not? he owed _everything_ to Shiro—now, If that was something that went back to garrison, Lance must've felt pretty awful to tell something like that to the man.

 Hunk continued, shaking his head, “Lance did not flirt with a single person for like two months.” he looked to Lance, “you forced me to make an actual blood pack never to speak of it again. I can't believe you willingly let me tell them.”  

 That was actually a good question. Still laughing Keith's eyes went to Lance. Keith could only guess how bad he felt about this. His ears were red and he had his arms crossed, looking down. He very clearly hated the story. But then why would he ask Hunk to ...?

 Lance caught his eyes looking up, Keith would've thought he would pout at how wide Keith's grin must be, but Lance’s lips just turned upwards.

 He continued to look at him with that smile and soft eyes, even as Keith laughed at the teasing comments Pidge threw at him. Oh.

 Oh, _that's_ why.

 Something very warm bloomed in his chest. Sure, Lance always made him laugh. But god, the extends he was willing to go to make Keith laugh always surprised him.

 He returned the smile. Though he wasn't a saint; he might've thrown a few comments in there two.

  Eventually Lance stood up, “Alright, you all had your fun. Now, come on,” he pointed to Keith with his head.

“Wha-Where are you going? I'm not even half-way done making fun of you.” 

 The absolute honesty and lack of decency in Pidge's protest brought another laugh out of Keith.

 “Well, sorry I can't hang around for you to make fun of me,” Lance huffed, “but we got training to do.” he pointed between himself and Keith.

 Pidge's smirk was quick to return to her face, she leaned back on her chair, “Training again? _Interesting,_ this is like what? Your fourth time _together?_ Just be sure to put a sock on the door, we wouldn't want anyone to walk in on you in a middle of a sword fight.” 

 Keith only pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. She was never letting that go, was she?

 Next to him Lance picked up his cup, probably to throw it at her. Hunk was quicker, he took it out of Lance’s hand, _“No!_ no throwing in my kitchen. I just cleaned up.” 

 “But you—” 

“No buts,” Hunk shut Lance's protest down, “Just do what I do with her, take the high road.” 

 “Hunk, I'm right here, I can hear you,” Pidge said, “and also have you met him, I don't think he even  _has_ a high road.” she pointed to Lance.

Lance scoffed, “I have a high road, in fact it's high enough that no pigeons can fly near it.”

“And for your information, we're trying guns today.” he added as Keith got up. 

 Keith couldn't help his laugh at the look on Pidge's face. She looked like someone just took a candy from her.

 Unfortunately she once again was quick to grin, “Okay, just make sure to keep the _safety_ on and no _blowing_ each other.” 

  _Ugh._ Keith resisted the urge to smack his forehead. Oh look, that spot on the floor was looking very interesting right now.

 Hunk put a hand on Lance's shoulder just as Lance threw his hands in the air at her. “High road, take the high road, Lance.” Hunk reminded, barely hiding the laughter in his voice.

 “I _am,_  she's just reaching my high road!” 

 Deciding that standing there would only end up in more of her comments, Keith guided Lance toward the door, “Come on.” 

 “That's right,” Pidge called after them, “This pidgeon can fly as fucking high as she wants.” 

 He could here her cackle even as they were a hallway away. 

 “God, she can make anything sound dirty,” Lance crossed his arms, “why Shiro thinks she's the most innocent one here, I'll never understand.” 

 Keith bit back a smile at the complaint, if he wasn't too busy trying to ignore Pidge's comments, he would be thinking about how cute that red blush in Lance's ears looked, but he wasn't, not even a little. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm assuming garrison to be somewhat of a highschool and a college. The students all started there at 14. Shiro was an instructor there too, obviously after he graduated. I know it's not canon, but I'm going deeper into this in the later chapters and I just wanted to clarify :)


	22. Chapter 22

 Keith wasn't sure why it hadn't occurred to him earlier, but it was only as they entered the training room that he remembered he hadn't brought a gun with himself from the main training deck. Lance had a small armory there, but to be honest Keith had never payed any attention to anything, always just picking his sword without a second look. He made his way to the small armory hoping Lance kept an extra pistol there, even though he needed one. Well, he didn't need an extra sword apart from his bayard but he had one there, so why not a gun?

 Lance followed him to the the corner of the room in silence. He had a hand under his chin. Keith just gave him a questioning look before shrugging and returning his attention to the small closet. Okay, so first of all he was a blind man. The entire upper part of the closet, was filled with different guns in display. 

 “I know, impressive, huh?” 

 For someone who didn't actually own any of these, Lance sounded very satisfied of himself. Keith wasn't even sure how Allura had let him take so many weapons from the original room. He might've stole them, Coran probably wasn't innocent in the story either.

 There was like a billion different guns there, Keith just decided to go for the simplest black one, the others had so many buttons on them. Why were there so many buttons on them? a gun was supposed to shoot, nothing else. Half of them were so flashy. He reached to pick the black one up, but then another one took his attention in the corner. Keith picked that one up instead.

  _“Huh.”_

 Keith turned to look at Lance at his exclamation, “What?” 

 “Nothing.” Lance shook his head.

 But there was a smile at the corner of his lips that made Keith narrow his eyes at him, “What? Did I choose the wrong one or ...?”

 “Wrong one? It's not a test, Keith,” Lance laughed, “guess I just didn't expect you to pick that one.”

 Keith looked at the gun in his hand, it was slightly bigger than a handgun. Unlike most that were black, this one was white silver, there were small turquoise parts on the barrel that shined like most things in the castle. Small golden patterns designed the grip. The metallic body looked heavy but it was actually quite light and comfortable in hand.

“What's wrong with this one?” he asked.

 “Looks too flashy for your taste.”  
Keith looked down again, frowning, “It's _not_ flashy,” he defended.

 Lance huffed a laugh, “God, I can't believe your defending my favourite gun to me.” He looked at Keith with Amusement. “That's why I was surprised, that's the one I always train with.”

 “Oh,” Keith whispered, looking at the gun with new found interest before the question occurred to him.

 “Why don't you just use your bayard?”

 “I don't know,” Lance made a dismissing wave of his hand. 

 Keith by now knew that even if Lance acted like a goofball idiot, he had a reason for everything he did, so he continued to look at Lance with a raised eyebrow till he gave a real answer.

“I guess I wanna be prepared in case I didn't have my bayard with me.” 

 “Why wouldn't you have your bayard?”

 Lance shrugged a shoulder, “I don't know, I mean after all the weird crazy shit we've been through,0 is it that wild to think I might end up in a situation like that?” he leaned in to tapp on the gun in Keith's hand. “Isn't that exactly why you wanna learn this?” 

 It _was,_ but that was _different._ Keith was part of the Blade, it was routine for him to go on missions alone, there were a lot of times when he didn't have any back up, moments when his blade was taken from him. So, yes he really needed to have a back up weapon to use. Lance, on the other hand, Keith  couldn't think of any situation that Lance would be in  need of defending himself but wouldn't have his bayard. Well, he _could,_ but he really didn't want to. Not that he had any doubts in Lance's abilities to defend himself, but he’d rather _not_ think about Lance being alone in enemy territory without a weapon. The thought was very off-putting. And thank god, there was no reason for him to think about it, not with Voltron. They always stuck together.

 And yet from what he'd heard, they had been going on missions with less than five paladins more often now. Keith wasn't sure why the team was doing that. If he'd suggested some thing like that when he was the black paladin, Lance would've called him out on his shitty idea faster than the words would be out of his mouth. But apparently now, he was okay with it.

 “Here.”

 Keith was brought of the thoughts by Lance’s voice. Lance was offering something to him in his palm.

 “Ear plugs?” Keith questioned taking them in hand, and looking at them. He wasn't sure why Lance had offered them. They both were used to the sound of guns by now.

 “I just thought you could use them because of your,” Lance traced his own earlobe, “super hearing and stuff.”

 Keith's eyebrows raised a little, he hadn't even considered that. and yet Lance have. The smile was automatic as he put the little things inside his ear, “Thanks.”

 “You should thank Hunk, I asked him to make them, so you can hear normal talking, but not louder sounds. He did all the cool tech mojo on it, And their extra powerful. Wouldn't want you to hurt your ears.” 

 Keith had to look down at the gun and away from Lance's goddamn bright smile. He hadn't just considered it, he'd went to enough trouble of asking Hunk, too. _Jesus, how considerate is he?_

 

 Keith took back the words quite shortly. Ten minutes later and it was Lance's turn to laugh himself to crying.

 “Dude, How are you so _bad_ at this? Like _how?_ I thought you were amazing at everything you do, I didn't even think it was possible for you to be that bad at anything! Period!”

 See if the sentence had been said in any tone other than _that,_  it would've been flattering. Lance had his hands in a steeple in front of his face looking at him.

 “You done?” Keith gave him an unimpressed face.

 “Pfft, not even _close!_  You shoot worse than, Hunk! _Hunk!_ And he doesn't even aim, he just points his blaster in the general vicinity of whatever he's trying to take down and shoots! I mean I could probably bring a kid here, close their eyes, hand them a gun and they'd _still_ be able to shoot better than you.” he doubled over himself, holding himself.

 “Lance, are you _sure_ you want to make that much fun of me when I'm holding a gun in my hand.”

 Lance snorted, “Buddy, I could be standing an inch from you and you probably wouldn't be able to shoot me with _that_ aiming.”

 Keith glared at him.

 Lance held up his palms, “Alright, don't give me the ‘ _try me, bitch,’_ face, we saw how _utterly_   _disastrous_ you are, now let's see how to fix _this.”_

Keith sent him another glare when Lance gestured to all of him. It just earned another snort from the other boy as he started walking towards Keith, “But seriously man, I've seen you throw your blade, your aim is perfect there, why are you so bad at this? So so _so so—”_

 “I don't know!” Keith threw his hands in the air. A second too late realising he'd threw the gun too. As if the universe was making fun him it hit the hologram target board perfectly.

 _Are you fucking kidding me?!_  “Ugh!” he crossed his arms to his chest. Stupid gun.

 “Easy there,” Lance didn't even hide his laugh as he went to pick the gun up.

 “Okay first lesson on shooting, try _not_ throwing the gun.” He smiled as he handed Keith the gun.

 Keith took it in his hands, looking down, “maybe this was a bad idea.” he bit his lip.

  _“Who_ are you?!”

 Keith looked up at Lance's loud voice.

 He leaned to knock on Keith's skull, “What are you possessed or something? We'll get you outta there, Keith, just hold on.”

  _“Lance,”_ Keith swatted hus hand, rubbing on the spot.

 “What? You never give up on this stuff,” Lance pointed around the room. “remember that time I had to make Allura _lock_ you out of the system because your stubborn ass couldn't stay out of the training room for even a day?”

 Keith tried not to smile. He _did._ But he couldn't stop himself. It was not long after Shiro's ... _disappearance_ and Keith'd been spending a lot of time in the training room. He was practically either in red searching for Shiro or in the training room then. On that particular day, he'd been there from morning till late night, he couldn't finish the level and wasn't planning on leaving before he did. Lance came to tell him to go to bed at least a few times before bringing Allura in the story. Even Keith's anger, had not persuaded him to give in, he'd made Keith take a shower, put on a freaking face mask to _relax_ , and then forced him to sleep for ten hours before letting him back in the room. Keith had not stopped complaining the entire time but he'd felt so much better the next day. He'd never voiced his gratefulness though. He opened his mouth to maybe do that, but Lance beat him to speaking.

 “We haven't even started and you want to give up?”

 Keith looked up, “I think, maybe shooting isn't my thing.” he admitted.

 “That's ridiculous. Based on that logic, swords shouldn't be my thing, Should I give up on that?”

 Keith didn't answer as it was rhetorical question.

 “No? Then come on.” He gestured for Keith to start shooting.

 Well, hard to argue with that logic. Keith held up the gun. He interrupted him before he could, though.

 “Keith, you're aware that you need to close one eye to aim, right?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Then why are both of yours open exactly?”

 “I need to be able to know if someone's gonna attack me.” Keith answered.

  _“Who's_ gonna attack you? Me?” Lance questioned.

 Keith turned to look at him, at the clear _‘You're being ridiculous’_ tone in his voice,  “Not now. I need to be aware of my surroundings when I'm fighting.”

 “Yeah, you do that _before_ you're aiming.”

 “But what if someone comes at me while I'm aiming?”

 “Then you shoot at them, that's kinda the whole point, Keith,” Lance gave him the _‘duh’_ look.

 “Yes I'm aware how shooting works,” Keith deadpanned, ignoring Lance's smirky _‘Are you?’, “_ But what if someone attacks me from behind?”

 This is why he didn't like shooting, he always needed to be fully aware of his surroundings and if he was focusing all his attention on where to aim, how wouldhe do that.

 Lance placed a hand on his face, shaking his head. Keith heard the huff of laugh behind it. “Mullet, for the time being, let's just assume you're somewhere  safe, where no one's gonna attack you, alright?” 

 “Fine.”

 Keith tried to aim Lance's way, well, _universal_ way, closing his left eye to shoot. Yet as soon as he was about to shoot, Lance spoke up again.

 “Why are you holding the gun with both hands, man?”

 Keith squinted at him. He was just being a little shit. Everyone, including _him,_  held their guns that way. “You always hold them with both hands!”

Lance just looked at him calmly, un-crossing his arms, “Okay, first of all, I operate a blaster or a riffle you need both hands with those. That's,” he pointed to the gun in Keith's hands, “a hand gun and not that big of one, it's designed to be used with one hand. Second of all, I'm assuming you wanna use this as more of a close range shooting, you're not gonna have time to use both hands, it's not practical when someone's coming at you and you want to shoot them as fast as you can. Third of all, if you're ...” he closed his eyes for a second, “if you're injured, and can use only one hand you'll still be able to shoot. You gotta learn to shoot with both separately by the way. And fourth of all this way way you can still use your blade in the other hand.” 

 Keith could only stare at himas he went on counting. He clearly had given this so much thought.

“And lastly, _chill,_ m _an,_ ” he smiled at Keith, “I know I'm being picky. But I'm not being picky to piss you off, I'm just trying to help.” 

 Keith looked at him, his words from earlier resonating in his head. Lance was thinking about the same thing too, Keith could see it in his eyes, until he looked down.

Keith sighed, eventually. “It gives me more control.”

“Holding the gun with both hands,” he clarified, “it helps me aim better.” 

“I know but ...” Lance paused, tilting his head at Keith. A crease appeared between his eyebrows, “You've tried this before.”

  It was more of a statement than a question. Keith nodded. It deepened Lance's frown, “Keith, why didn't you just ask for my help?”

 He sounded ... hurt. “It was at the blade,” he'd never had a use for learning how to shoot before that. Lance was always there to shoot anything that tried to get close to him before that. “Not here.” he said with a smile. He had the urge to call him _dummy._

 “Oh,” Lance whispered.

 His smile was back on when he looked up again, “Try it with one hand, it helps me aim better and it's faster and more practical and gives you an edge.”

 Keith followed suit. This time when Lance interrupted him once again before he could shoot Keith only smiled. 

 “You know And all that stuff about being comfortable you said?” He continued as Keith nodded, “well, it goes for this as well. But you gotta at least hold the pistol right.”

 “There's a _wrong_ way to hold a gun?” Keith questioned.

 Lance gave him a rather unimpressed face, “Yes and it's what you’re doing right now. Give me the gun and I'll show you.”

 “Lance, I've seen you shoot a billion times, if I was gonna learn that way I would've by now.” Keith pointed out. “I just I don't know how to aim.” he added quietly. He really tried, but he couldn't. 

 “Alright, I guess the old way it is.”

 Keith looked up as Lance walked closer, he stopped a foot away, a hand rubbing his neck, “Um, Is it okay if I ...?” 

 Keith couldn't believe they were here, yet again. He smiled, smirked, “I mean I've already touched your sword, so I guess it's cool.”

 Lance looked up to him with a snort. Honestly, Keith couldn't believe Lance was so fine with them joking about something like that. That was a newly found— _interesting_ —development.

 “It helps if you're standing a little sideway.”

 Keith heard the words, but didn't actually register them as Lance was suddenly right there, taking it upon himself to help him turn. As if sensing him Lance immediately retracted his hands, taking a step back.

 “Are you sure you're okay with me being this close? I know you're not exactly a fan of ... physical contact.”

 “It's okay.”

 “Keith,” Lance's voice was soft, and understanding. It made Keith smile, even if Lance couldn't see it.

 “Lance, it's the fastest way for me to learn.” 

 “Okay,” Lance said after a second, moving close to him again. “Don't lock your elbow, there should be a little room. But lock your wrist.”

 Blueberry scent filled Keith's lungs as Lance rested his chin on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around Keith's steading it. And Keith damned who ever had decided the galra should feel _that_ much. Yet, he wasn't sure he wanted to make the scent go away or to let it burn his insides out. But was it really necessary for them to have a heightened sense of touch too. What good could that possibly cause, except making him feel every little part of the warmth that radiated off Lance. Keith couldn't help turning his head to look at him.

 “Eyes on the front,” Lance immediately said. “Also is that thing the love of your life?” 

  _“What?”_  

 “The gun,” Lance cleared, giving Keith's hand around the grip a squize _._ “Why are you holding it that tight?” 

 Keith recollected himself, “Um, shouldn't I?” 

 “Yeah, but not _that_ tight,” Lance said, “I can't see your hand under those stupid gloves, but I'm pretty sure there isn't any blood left in your knuckles,” He made a small laugh, his breath tickling Keith's ear. “You know how the sword is supposed to be an extension of your hand?”

 Keith nodded even though he wasn't exactly hearing much. All He could hear his own heartbeat.

 “It's like that.”

 Lance wrapped his other hand around Keith's spare one, forming it to a fist, raising it and placing it over  his chest, “if you keep your hand like this it helps with balance, and unlike me you could use some of that.” Lance joked.

 Keith didn't have it in him to laugh. Not with Lance practically hugging him. Not with Lance's hand still on his own, still on his chest. Could Lance hear his heartbeat too? Cause he certainly could hear Lance’s. More than that, he could _feel_ it. Beating, right behind his own heart.

_“Keith.”_

 He didn't know how many Lance had had to call him to finally get his attention, he wasn't sure he wanted to know, “What?”

 “Relax,” Lance giggled, his heartbeat did a small leap with the laugh, his breath ghosting Keith's neck.

 “I _am_ relaxed,” His traitor of a voice betrayed him with a crack.

 “Your hands are shaking more than that jelly Hunk once tried to make from the goo.” Lance pointed out.

 “My hands are always shaking.” He had the steadiest hands ever.

 “Keith, if it's too much, I can always teach you on the simulator.”

 It _was_ too much.  Not because of what Lance thought. No, but because of the softness in because voice, becauseof how much he cared. Did Lance even understand what he was doing? Why did he have to do this to Keith? Why did he have to be so understanding? Why did he have to be sweet? Why couldn't he just have held on to the stupid rivalry bullshit? Why did he have to be so soft? Why did he have to be so close? Why did hid heart have to beat that loud? _Why?_

 “It's fine.”

 “Okay,” Lance said. “Stubborn idiot,” he muttered. He didn't even try to lower his tone. And considering his mouth was about three inches from Keith's ear, there really would be no point in that.

 Lance moved his hand, _their_ hand with the gun, “I sometimes do this thing, unfocusing my eyes and then focusing again. It helps.” he helped Keith aim, “you have to just focus on just this and nothing else.”

 Oh, Keith was doing that, only that the  _just this_  he was focusing on was not what Lance wanted him to.

 “I always take a breath in right before I shoot, it helps.”

 Keith did that, let it burn his lungs to ashes. It actually helped though, somehow. He pulled his finger down to shoot.

 “Whoa, hey! not while I'm still here—” Keith tried not to focus on the fact that _here_ was around him. “you'll end up breaking my perfect little nose.” Lance stepped away from him.

 Well, at least Keith could breathe again, and _think_ again. He wasn't sure it was a smirk or a smile he gave Lance, “Yeah, wouldn't wanna break your perfect little nose.”

 He actually liked Lance's nose. it was all smooth but had a leap at the end, it was actually quite cute. Keith shook his head stopping from staring at Lance's god damn nose and focusing on the target. God, he was so screwed.

 “Deep breath.”

 Keith took a deep breath in closing his eyes, he aimed as he opened them and shot ... _wow._

 “Hey, not bad.”

 “I didn't even shoot the board,” Keith pointed to the holographic board.

 “Hey it's better than the last ones where you almost shot me, I was starting to think you were aiming for me.” 

 Keith sent him a questioning look.

 “You know because of earlier.”

 Oh. Keith felt something inside him turn, but Lance was laughing.

 “I'm joking, Keith. Don't take everything so serious.” he smiled at Keith, pointing to the target, “Come on, go again.”

 

“This is actually pretty hard,” Keith voiced his thoughts after a few shots when he managed to land a shot on the target board. When Lance didn't make a comment in return to that, he turned to look at him. He almost dropped the gun, catching whatever Lance had sent flying towards him. “What the ...?” 

 “You're out of Ammo,” Lance said walking towards him from the armory.

 “Ammo?”  Keith looked down to the cubic thing in his hand. It looked like a crystal, a Balmeran crystal.

 “What? Did you think that it magically blew stuff up with the power of its will?” Lance quirked an eyebrow.

 Keith might not have given it any thought at all, probably because the bayards were kinda magical, all that quintessence stuff, and Lance or Hunk never needed a refill for bullets. But it made sense for a normal, even an alien one to need it.

Lance took the gun from him, “This works on crystal, I'm not exactly sure how it turns them to laser shots but it does. I mean I asked Coran once, but I only understood like three words of his half an hour babbling.” 

 Lance looked at him at hus laugh, before continuing, “This one actually doesn't need to be reloaded that much, you can make a hundred shots with each crystal.” Lance showed him how to reload the gun.

“How did you know it was out of bullets?” Keith questioned.

 “You count the shots in your head.”

 “How am I supposed to do that when I'm in a middle of a fight?” it's not like he could pause to count a hundred bullets when he was running for his life. God, swords were so much easier to deal with.

 “You get used to it, it's basic stuff,” he grinned at Keith, “And also the lights turn off when you're out of crystal, genius.” he tapped on the turquoise lights on the gun. _Oh,_ so that's why it shone, because of the crystal. 

“And you sound surprised? About it being hard.”

 “Yeah, you always make it look ...” Keith trailed off the meaning clear;  _easy,_  Lance always made it look so effortless. It _wasn't._

 _“_ Dude _,_ I busted my ass off to get this good, you think I just started hitting targets the first time I picked up the a gun.”

 “You did.” Keith whispered it, he might be pouting. But he remembered it pretty clear, Lance had been great at shooting since the beginning, of course his head hadn't been exactly in the game back then, but his aim had been good even then.

 “What?”

 “You hit perfectly the first time you had your bayard.”

 Lance stared at him, blinking a few times.

 “What?” Keith asked. 

 “Nothing, I'm ... just surprised you remember something like that.” 

 Was he serious? The only one here who didn't remember something was _him._

 “And that's not the first-time I held a gun,” Lance continued, he tapped on the panel, changing the training program. Unlike Keith's targets, these were moving ones and quite fast at that he watched in fascination as Lance both shot them and spoke. Because now that he had the tiniest idea of how hard this was, it was actually more fascinating to watch.  “My oldest uncle, I think I once told you a story about his wedding? With his cat as the best man? Anyway,” he dodged one of the targets, “He's a cup, he used to take me and Veronica to one of those shooting galleries since I was like ten. You think I'm good at this? You should've seen her, she was amazing. She kicked my ass all the time,” Lance's voice had equal parts of admiration and homesickness.

 He finished the program in less than a minute. Looking back at Keith with a smirk, he spinned the gun around in his finger, blowing the non-existent smoke. God, did he have to look so smug?

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest, raising an brow, “Has anyone ever told you, you're a show off?”

 Lance snorted, “You have, on several occasions.”

 “Well, it seems worth repeating, you're a show off.” 

 Lance just shrugged, winking at him. “What can I say? I can't keep this much perfection from the universe,” he gestured towards himself. Before Keith had a chance to give him a look he continued,  “And please you do it too, that flippy thing you kept doing yesterday?” he raised an eyebrow towards Keith.

 “I was trying to teach you.” Keith defended.

  _“Puh-lease,_ you were showing off and you know it.”

 Okay, so Keith might've done the move a few times more than necessary. He wouldn't call it _showing off_ per se. Impress perhaps would be a the better word? It's just Lance’s eyes sparkled everytime he did and yeah okay, Keith might've been showing off just a little too.

 Lance seemed to take his silence and possibpe pout as defeat, “Alright, let's go again.” 

 

 Keith couldn't even feel his fingers anymore by the time they were done training.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I posted two chapters today, I mean the first one was too short, and kind of a filler chapter so doesn't really count.
> 
> And yes, I made parallel training scenes and I'm not even sorry ;)
> 
> Spends three hours on net trying to find out how guns work. Whispering to google; _please, don't send FBI agents to my house, I'm not planning on murdering anyone._
> 
> No, but seriously, the only time I've ever held a gun in my entire life I was twelve and it was a shotgun. So yeah, blame the internet for anything wrong there.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for 300 kudos :)
> 
> * * *
> 
> _“Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.”_
> 
> \- Rainer Maria Rilke  
>    
> 

 Examining the small bottle in his hand, Keith raised his other, knocking on the door.

 “Yeah?”

 “Can I come in?” Keith asked.

 “Sure.”

 Right after Lance's voice answered the door opened up. Lance greeted him with a big smile as he stepped inside. “Hey, man.” he was wearing his blue pyjamas and robe. The room set in low light. Keith probably had disturbed him right before going to bed.

 Keith returned the smile, “Hey, sorry, I know you wanna sleep, I'll make this quick, um,” he rubbed the back of his head with one hand looking down, he offered the bottle to Lance with the other, “here, I got this from Coran. He said you know how to use it?” 

 Lance stared at his hand, before looking up to his face and raising an eyebrow, “What for?”

 “Your hand,” Keith said. There was no way he'd be able to sleep with the guilt he was feeling, so he'd went to Coran. The man had offered some sort of quick healing anti pain altean cream. 

 He looked up at the sound of laughter.

 Lance placed a hand on his heart, “Aw, you're really just a big sweet teddy bear wrapped up in all that emo and darkness, aren't you?”

 “I'm not _emo.”_   Keith scoffed.

 Lance moved his hand to cover his eyes, shaking his head, “Dude, why do you always get the wrong part of the message?”

 Because accepting the right part of it needed a big enough heart that Keith didn't have.

 “Keith, my buddy, my man, stop guilting yourself. My hand is fine, see?” Lance held up his arm for Keith to see, “I was just being, well, you know _melodramatic. Y_ ou don't have to worry.” His smile was too bright and soft.

 “Oh,” Keith retracted hus hand, staring at the bottle in his hand, “Well, then, I should probably get this back to—”  
The _‘Coran’_ was caught in his throat when Lance took the bottle out of his hand.

 “Nah, I've got a better plan.” He said, “I think you need it more than me.”

 He didn't give another explanation before sitting on his bed, he patted to the spot next to him for Keith to sit on.

 “Hand,” he demanded as Keith did.

 “Hand?” 

 Lance rolled his eyes, “Give me your hand,” Lance held up his own hand.

 “My ... hand?” Keith questioned.

 “Jesus, why are you so awkward?” huffing a laugh, Lance leaned towards him. Keith leaned back instinctively in response. If Lance noticed, he didn't say anything— _wait, did he just wink?_ —as he took Keith's hand in his own. He took off the fingerless glove, setting it next to him. He placed Keith's on his leg as he opened the bottle, applying the almost glowing pink liquid over his hand.

 Just as Keith was about to question it Lance spoke up, “I'm assuming this was the first time you used a gun, and after all the terrible _terrible terrible,”_ Lance emphasized, shaking his head, “hours ofshooting you did today, your hand is probably gonna hurt like hell tomorrow. This'll help.”

 Keith didn't know what to say, and he really didn't trusted his voice enough to say anything. Lance was massaging the back of his hand with the cream—  Okay, so that was something that was actually happening—he added some more to Keith's wrist, rubbing on it with those goddamn beautiful long fingers in circular motions. It felt like he was touching every cell in his skin. Keith wasn't sure how hands could go that warm but his certainly were. He really hoped Lance wouldn't notice.

 He sat up straight when he felt the sudden freezing take over his arm, “It's cold.”

 Lance didn't even look up, “It's supposed to be.”

 “How do you know?” Keith asked, Lance turned his hand and restarted his work on his palm gently.

 “I used it all the time when we first got here.”

 Lance seemed too focused on his work to see his eyebrow raise so Keith voiced it, “Why?”

 The first time any of them had gotten injured, well it _had_ been Lance but even then he wouldn't need a healing cream or whatever that was.

 “My blaster gives one hell of a kick, my shoulder hurt all the time till I finally got used to it.”

 Oh, Keith frowned. Memories of all the times he'd given Lance shit over weaseling out of training those first few weeks here rushed to his head. Granted, he hadn't known then it was because of this, and _all_ of those times couldn't have been because of this, and technically, he only started giving Lance shit after Lance spent every second being on his ass and pissing him off but _still,_ the memories left him with a bad feeling. “You never said anything to us.”

 “I _did,”_ Lance disagreed, “I told Coran, he gave me this thing. And it works like magic,” Lance paused. He looked back at the bottle, frowning, “It probably _is_ magic.”

 Keith looked at the boy in front of him. Why he'd ever thought Lance was a simple person was beyond him. He was the most complex person ever, everytime Keith thought he'd finally managed to figure him out, he went and did something to throw all his findings to the wind.

 So, he just stared at him. Lance's eyes were focused, fingers moving around his with so much care like they were the most delicate things in the universe. They _weren't,_ unlike Lance's soft one, his hand was calloused and rough. Yet, Lance was treating it with so much gentleness. His fingers were warm, making a contrast to the cooling sensation. With the extra sense, it felt like Lance was touching every skin cell, every nerve ending in his hand. Keith bowed his head lower, hiding his warm face behind his bangs and thanking god for the low lighting. Not that Lance would notice, he seemed too focused on his hand.

 “There we go,” Lance eventually said, returning Keith his hand. He handed Keith the bottle, “You should hold on to this for next time we train. Also try a moisturizer once in a while, man. Your hand is as dry as that desert you lived in, you heathen.”

 It probably must've been the look on his face that made Lance narrow his eyes at him before taking back the bottle, “Okay, I don't trust you to actually do that, so I'm holding on to this, so I'll do it myself.”

 “Okay?” Keith answered.

 Lance dropped it in the drawer in his nightstand before returning his eyes to Keith, “You know, it won't kill you if you take care of your self a little. Actually, it will do the exact opposite.”

 He picked the glove to return it to Keith, but then he stopped putting it on instead. He held his hand up, looking at it before looking at Keith. “What do you think? Can I pull it off?”

 Keith raised his eyebrow at him, “Pull the ... glove off?” he questioned.

 Lance nodded, “Yeah, you think I'll get an invitation from a bike gang if I put on a leather jacket, and an angsty attitude. Or is the mullet necessary? Cause there's no way I'm ever—”

 Okay, so once again he was back to making fun of his hair. Keith made a face at him, interrupting him by pulling the glove off his fingers. He just laughed at Keith's glare.

 But then he was smiling at Keith again, “But I know you won't look after yourself, so guess I'll just have to do it myself till you start doing it.” 

 Keith busied himself with the glove, taking far longer time than needed to wear them, just to avoid looking at that bright smile. It was like looking into the sun, he couldn't look too direct. He placed his hands in his lap, but couldn't stop looking at them. Lance cared about the smallest things more than Keith thought possible.

 “Thanks,” He whispered.

 “Anytime, mullet,” Lance's whisper was just as quiet.

 “By the way, you should know I'm not going to do what you asked.”

 Keith look up, gaving him a questioning look.

 “This morning, about backing off,” Lance explained. As Keith frowned he continued, “Obviously I'm not going to force you or anything but I'm not gonna let you give this up either Keith, no running away this time.”

 Keith didn't know what to say, the change of subject had been too sudden. Yet, it _hadn't_ been. Lance just said he was looking after him, Keith knew this was just another way of him doing that.

 “It's hard, I don't know how hard, but I know it _is,_ but Keith you can't just let her tag along. If you want a relationship with your your mom you gotta at least give her a chance.”

 “I, I know, I've been trying.” Keith sighed. It was so hard though.

Lance smiled, “I know, Keith. And I'm kind of proud of of you but ...”

 “Give her a chance?” Keith supplied. His shoulders cornered in on himself as he tried to explain, “I'm trying to forgive her, but I can't, I just _can't.”_

 Lance's hand settled on his shoulder, “No one's asking you to forgive her, I know I won't.” 

 “What?” Keith felt his eyes rounding at Lance.  

 “She left you,” Lance frowned, he looked like it physically hurt him to say that. “and I know it's not my place but she hurt you, so much, for so long, and I ... I can't forgive anyone for doing that. You don't have to forgive her, Keith. But you gotta start moving on from that. You don't have to overcome it, but you have to learn to live with it.”

 Keith was shocked by words ebough that it took him some time to find his voice, “I have, Lance, all my life.”

 “You have,” Lance agreed until he didn't. He tilted his head, softening his voice, “but _have_ you?”

 “Have you accepted it? Cause to me it looks like you've just been running from it.”

 “Lance, I'm not—”

 “No, I know you're gonna say you _don't_ run, but please let me say this, it's important,” Lance looked at him, his tone and his eyes were too serious. Keith nodded.

 “She left and that sucks and it sucks that other people did the same to you, too. But, Keith,” blue eyes looked at him softer than it should be possible, “You didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't your fault, and it's not because there is anything wrong with you because there isn't.” he leaned to give Keith's hand a quick squize, it was barest of a touch, “It's _their_ loss. Trust me, anyone who doesn't have you in their life, it's their loss.”

 Keith looked down, smiling. His shoulders slouching. He knew Lance was looking at him, but he really couldn't look back right now. It scared him how intuitive Lance could be, or how he knew exactly what was wrong. It took him some time to get a hold of that lump in his throat.

 “So that book was really good on psychology, huh?” he eventually said, his voice was still cracked. He regretted saying it immediately though at the way Lance's face scrunched up.

 “Keith, I'm really sorry about that, it was, it was crossing a line and I'm sorry,” Keith wasn't sure how someone could communicate that much genuineness just through their eyes. Lance continued, “But everything I said was _me_ and ... just think about it.”

 Keith stared at his hands, he didn't know what to say. Lance didn't seem to need him to.

 “Now, get outta here, I need my beauty sleep. And you certainly could use some. Though, I don't think there's enough sleep in the world to make that mullet acceptable.”

 Keith rolled his eyes, he made sure Lance saw he rolled his eyes and If the kick off the bed he got was any evidence, he did.

 

 It was just as he settled in his bed back in his room that Lance's voice travelled through the wall.

 “Hey, Keith?” 

 “Yeah?” 

 There was a pause before Lance answered. “I'm really glad I have you in my life.” 

 “You have no idea how glad I am to have you in my life,” Keith's voice was barely a whisper, he knew Lance wouldn't be able to hear it. And if his eyes were a little wet, well, there was no one there to see.

 

 

 True to his words, Lance did not let him give _it_ up. He made Keith spent five minutes, yes just five minutes, alone with Krolia the next day. Of course, _‘made’_   was the wrong because, he asked Keith if he was okay with doing that like a thousand times. And Keith figured; what did he have to lose? _A lot, actually._

 But then again Lance never made anything easy on him, did he. He asked Keith to increase the time he spent with her by five minutes everyday. _That's not much, is it?_ Except that it _was,_ because by the end of second week it meant he had to spent an hour with her. Well, it's not like he had to, Lance gave him the option to back out of it everyday, with that _exact_ wording, which made it kinda harder to back out if he wanted to. Thank god they agreed on keeping it at one hour after that. Keith could tell he was beginning to feel more comfortable around her. Well, it's not like he actually talked to her. They just sat in the same room, Keith mostly busied himself with the tablet. But he had to hand it to Lance, he was getting more relaxed around her everyday.

 She was getting friend-ish with Lance. He knew she kept asking things about him from Lance. Land told him the general area of them, but never said what she actually asked. Because ‘ _Keith that would be breaking her privacy’_ but he made sure to reassure Keith that they were basic stuff that she could probably learn by watching the voltron show—Keith still thought that show was the stupidest thing ever. He couldn't believe Allura played him. What was that about?—and that he would never say something personal or something Keith wouldn't want him to. And Keith trusted him not to.

 He knew she spent a lot of time with the others too. Specially Pidge. She finally had found someone to throw all her questions regarding galra to. Well, at least she was off his back. 

 Keith and Lance kept training together and each other. Lance let him use the training room—Okay, technically it was Allura's, everything in the castle was, but everyone just knew it as Lance’s—even when they weren't training each other. Most of the time instead of training, Keith found himself watching Lance train. There was something about him with this. Keith wasn't sure he'd ever seen him, or anyone for that matter, that determined. And his fighting grew more different from were he had started, everyday. It made Keith smile as he observed him. His fighting style was finally beginning to look like _him._ Lance wasn't good at following rules or orders, it was just a fact. He liked to do things his way, he was a free person. Now _he_ moved like himself, where ever he wanted, and he got faster everyday. Keith saw the big smiles on his face. He looked like he was having fun while also being a thousand times focused. And that was why he was finally fighting like himself. And yeah, okay, Keith felt a little bit of pride every time Lance levelled up, or made a perfect move, immediately turning to Keith with a gigantic smile, “Keith, did you see that?!” of course Keith did. Well, pride wasn't the only feeling he got watching Lance move around the place like he owned it but that a story for another time, hopefully never.

 Though as great as it was to be back at the castle, he was getting a little fed up. He had nothing to do here, and it bothered him a lot. Kolivan hadn't sent a single message to his communicator, all this time and apparently he hadn't even told Shiro when he was calling him back for a mission. Not that Shiro pestering Keith to tell him when that would be was helping. And _that_ was just another can Keith didn't want to open.

 Shiro had spent almost zero to none time with him. Keith knew he was busy and it's not like they spent that much time together before. But he was, he was still Keith's, well, brother and it hurt that he felt so distant.

 By the time Keith had been back at the castle for four weeks he decided that Kolivan had done enough and _he_ was going to give him a call. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Me:** spends four chapter on events of a single day  
>  **Also me:** fast forwards through two weeks in half a chapter.
> 
> I'm sure that's the kinda quality writting you signed up for. Well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	24. Chapter 24

 The castle inhabitants were eating lunch. Shiro was skipping, yet _again._ He had asked Coran how come Shiro got to skip so much, the other day. It's just the altean man was very insistent on all of them gathering for each meal. Coran had only said, _‘I don't wanna talk about it.’_  with a, well, _pout._ Naturally Keith had turned to ask Lance; apparently Coran had had a fight with Shiro on the very subject. A losing one. Keith had felt a little shocked when Lance had added Coran was just being unreasonable and of course Shiro had too much on his plate and it was wrong of Coran to pester him like that. See, It was rare for Lance to disagree with Coran like that. But Keith supposed he kinda had a point.

 He sighed at the man's empty seat, before turning to Allura, “Hey, can I use the castle comms later?” he asked. She still over watched all the incoming and out going calls.

 “Sure.” she smiled. “I'm assuming you're contacting the Blade?” 

 Keith nodded, “Yeah, I need to talk to Kolivan about when he's sending me on a mission.”

 “Can't wait to leave, can you?”

 Keith's eyes went to Lance. It had been barely a whisper, but of course Keith had heard it. He frowned, it mirrored Lance’s. “What?” 

 “Is it really _that_ bad here that you can't _wait_ to go back?” Lance asked. Even if he initially clearly hadn't meant for Keith to hear them, he seemed to be putting no effort in hiding the hurt behind the words. Keith _had_ been right. Lance was bothered by that. 

  “No, Lance, it's not that,” Keith sighed, “I just ... don't like sitting around, doing nothing,” he tried to explain. Yet realising he'd made it worse just a second too late; now the others were looking at him hurt too. He held up his hands, “Not that that's what you do. I didn't mean you do ... nothing.” 

 “I don't know, Keith. It kinda sounded like that's what you were saying,” Pidge looked at him with a tiny frown.

 “It _wasn't,”_ Keith rubbed the corner of his eyes with one hand. “Look, you guys are paladins. You're supposed to be here. I'm ... _not,”_ he stared down at the table. That had been harder to admit than he thought. “I just need to ask him when he's sending me back. I don't like not knowing.”

 When he looked up, the expression on Lance’s face had done a one eighty; his face was now soft, looking at Keith with worried eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but was beaten by Krolia.

 “There's no point.”

 Keith turned to look at her, “What?”

 “He's not going to talk to you,” she answered.

 “And why not?”

 She sighed, staring at the plate in front of her, “With what happened at the mission ... well, neither of us is allowed back till further notice.”

  _What?_  Keith huffed, “We're _suspended?”_

 “It's not a highschool, Keith,” Lance joked in a all seriousness. He'd moved closer to Keith in his seat, though.

 “But, basically yes,” Krolia answered.

 Keith leaned back a little, digesting the news. Unfortunately the news upset him to sit straight, “I'm paying for something _you_ did? That's not fair, I didn't ask you to do that. I _told_ you to leave, it's not my fault that you didn't!”

 He noticed Lance frowning in his peripheral vision, but he was too busy glaring at her to ponder on it.

 She looked away and Keith almost thought she was going to say sorry but then she looked up, yellow eyes looking at him, “I'm not going to apologise for saving your life, Keith.” 

 “I was doing fine there, why did you have to show up and mess it up?” 

 Keith might not just be talking about the Blade. He was also very aware of everyone else in the room, and he did not like how weak his voice sounded and the sympathizing looks weren't very helpful. And more importantly he didn't actually mean the words. This was an important reason of why he'd decided to join the blade initially; to know more about his galran heritage, to know how he was tied up with them, how he'd ended up with that blade in his hands. He just hadn't expected finding a mom instead.

 Since the time Keith had known her, she wasn't one to show that much emotion on her face—she still showed more than any other members of the blade though—but when Keith looked up her expression was clearly hurt. Well, there goes all the progress they had made.

 But then her face changed into something of a sad smile which Keith took as a _sorry._  “Keith, you weren't doing _fine._  You kept disregarding Kolivan's orders and he's not one to take disobedience lightly. Sooner or later, he would've sent you back to learn your lesson.”

 Well, she wasn't exactly wrong. Keith only slumped in his seat. He covered his eyes with a hand. _Great,_ now he wasn't a paladin _and_ he wasn't even allowed back to the Blade. Who knew how long it would take for Kolivan to forgive him, if he ever did. What if he didn't? What would Keith do then? He wouldn't have any way of actually doing something in this war. Then he would have no where to be. 

 “Sorry, man,” Lance's voice found its way to Keith's thoughts, and the slight brush of his arm to Keith's pulling him out of those thoughts. Reminding him that he still had _here,_ had _them,_ even if ge wouldn't bd a paladin.

 “Well, this mood just got even more bumming,” Pidge announce, half throwing her fork to her plate.

 Yeah, no kidding. Keith silently agreed. 

 It was Hunk suddenly clapping his hands and standing up that made them them all look at him, “I've got the best cure for it! I mean I was keeping it for dinner but clearly we all can use it a little earlier.” He said, vanishing to the kitchen.

 Keith looked up at the nudge to his elbow. Lance was looking at him head tilted.

 “Hey, don't look so sad,” he whispered, “I'll try and put in a talk for you to Kolivan.” He joked.

 Well, he _was_ joking. But Kolivan actually somewhat of respected him. Keith had almost thought he was going crazy when he'd seen Kolivan smiling at things Lance said during their calls to the castle. He had been sure the man was not even capable of smiling before that. But he guessed if there was only one  person who could make _anyone_ in the universe smile, it would be Lance.

 Keith gave him a nod and the best smile he could muster, it was barely one. Yet, it still seemed to brighten the other boy up. 

 “Think of it as an extended vacation, huh?” Lance offered. “I mean it can't be that bad.”

 Funny how Lance could say the same thing in so many different ways, this time it was only to comfort him.

 Keith sighed, shoulders slumping, “It's _not,_ I just—” 

 “Yeah, I know,” Lance interrupted him with a comforting smile.

“Pidge, let me put it down, first.” 

 They both turned around at Hunk's voice. Neither of them had noticed when he returned to the room, nor when Pidge had stood up from the table walking to him, trying to get to whatever was in that tray in his hand. “There is enough for everyone.” He told the _leech_ actually trying to climb him.

 Keith felt his lips lift up at the corners at the sight. 

 “Whatcha got there?” Lance asked, he looked ready to pounce at Hunk too. To be fair, in this castle delicious food, which was always made by Hunk, always caused war.

 “Ice cream,” Hunk announced finally managing to put the tray on the table without Pidge stealing anything. Lance and Allura _‘Ooh!’_ -ed simultaneously.

  Yet, to everyone's surprise Krolia was the one who attacked first, taking one of the bowls. Keith decided not to glare at her _too_ much.

 “Oh my god!” 

 They all stared at her as she managed to eat half of the bowl in less than twenty seconds. She seemed to finally notice them looking at her with open mouths, “What? You try not eating ice cream for two decades and we'll see how civilized you'll act.

 “Oh, that's too long, too _too_ long,” Hunk whispered, distributing the rest between the others. “I would die, my heart can not last that long without thus sweet taste.”

 Keith smiled at the horrified tone. Yeah, he woukd still have _them._

 “Lance, can you...?” he pointed to the bowl. He didn't want to bend half way over the table, he had _some_ manners, unlike Allura and Pidge apparently. 

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, “You sure you wanna eat that?”

 “Why wouldn't I?” It might not have been two decades for him—which it wasn't for Krolia either, Keith was only nineteen—but it had been months since he'd had ice cream. Not like the blade had an ice cream machine, he could turn to. He was going to eat this, he could deal with the ... _aftereffects_ later.

 Lance looked at him, opening his mouth. Whatever he was going to say he changed his mind only shaking his head as he passed the bowl of ice cream to Keith.

 Keith was two seconded into enjoying the taste in peace, before he got interrupted. _Ugh,_ today was not his day, was it?

 “Aren't you, uh, _intolerant?”_ Krolia asked pointing to the ice-cream.

 “Yeah, but I can ...” he paused, frowning, “wait, how do you know about that?” 

 He hadn't developed the issue till his teen years, so there was no way of her knowing about it. 

“Lance told me.” 

 “Oh,” Keith said, going back to his eating ... _Now, wait a second_ , “wait, how do _you_ know about it?” he turned towards Lance.

 Lance choked on the ice cream in his mouth. He coughed a little, drinking from his glass of water, before looking at Keith with wide eyes, “Uh, you seemed like the type?!”

 Yeah, like Keith was believing that. He quirked an eyebrow, “There's a type to lactose intolerance?!”

 “Yes.”

 “Lance,” Keith said. Lance was suddenly avoiding his eyes.

 “You said so?” 

 “No, I didn't,” Keith never told that to anyone. Shiro's disapproving looks and complaints every time  Keith ate anything with dairy was annoying enough, he didn't need more people to complain to him.

 “You _did.”_

 Keith sat sideways on his chair, fully facing Lance to squint at him. Lance's eyes seemed still glued to the ice cream he was trying to busy himself eating. Were his ears getting red? Something was up with that.

 “I _didn't,”_ Keith insisted. He gave a look to others, “I haven't, have I?”

 Allura shrugged, “I don't even know what that means and honestly don't think I would've remembered even you had said,” she admitted. 

 Okay, fair enough, Keith turned to Hunk. _He_ would remember. Considering tgat he practically worshipped cooking and anything food related was sacred to him. Pidge had once mentioned something about hating peanuts and Hunk had eternally banished anything that even remotely tasted like it from his food. 

 “Um,” the bigger boy seemed to be sharing a look with Lance, “I mean I really don't think so—” 

  _“Ow!”_

 Keith and the others turned to look at Pidge at the pained cry that escaped her.

 “Wrong leg, Lance,” her angry eyes glared at the tan boy, as she leaned down to rub her knee.

 Well, that explained the sound Keith had just heard from under the table. 

 “Did you just kick her?” he huffed a small, looking to Lance.

  _“No!”_ Lance denied, shamelessly.

 Keith couldn't help the small laugh as he looked to Hunk, “He just tried to kick you, do you really want to take his side?”

 Hunk seemed to consider it. He looked between him and Lance.

 “All, I'm saying is I only know you are lactose intolerant cause Lance brought it up the other day.” 

Keith didn't get to throw his victorious look to Lance as Hunk continued, “By the way, that's safe,” he pointed to the bowl, “we're going dairy free from now on. Which I would've _earlier_ if you just had told us. Why didn't—” 

 “Not important right now,” Keith held up a finger to him. He would thank him later. He turned to Lance, _“How_ do you know?” The fact that Lance was trying to hide what ever the reason was only made him want to know more

 “You said it.”

 Keith was about to protest that the evidence suggested other wise as Lance added in a more quiet voice, “not _here,_  at-at garrison.” 

  _“Garrison?”_  

 “Yeah, Galaxy Garrison? You know, the academy for space travel and stuff, we all went there. Ring any bells?” 

 Keith ignored the sassy tone, only narrowing his eyes at him, _“Yeah,_  but when did I ever ...?”

 Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “That time the kitchen staff decided to change the menu ingredients without telling us. Remember you ended up getting sick in class?” 

 “No?” Keith answered honestly, his time at garrison seemed so far away. 

 “Well, you did.” 

 Keith stared at the boy in front of him who still seemed very persistent on staring at the table. “And you ... _remembered?”_ Keith asked because he couldn't remember whatever event Lance was talking about. Why would Lance?

 “Yeah,” Lance shrugged. Despite his ears getting redder with every second that went by, his face looked mischievous when he finally looked at Keith. “what? Surprised everything in my brain _can't_ be stored in a paper plane?”

 He recalled himself saying something like that to Lance, but he really couldn't think about that right now. Why would Lance remember something like that?

 “So,” Hunk cleared his throat, “Just out of curiosity, remember that kinda riot thing you pulled against our cooks. The one that ended up in us having detention for two months, Exactly how far from this incident was that?” 

 Lance immediately turned to him, glaring, “Hunk, _shut up,_ man!” 

 Hunk laughed as he dodged Lance's second attempt at kicking him.

 And now Keith couldn't stop staring at him. His reaction suggested that what Hunk said must've been. But that didn't make any sense.There was no way Lance had done that for any reason related to Keith. They didn't even _know_ each other back then. 

 Except that apparently Lance _did._ Apparently Lance had paid enough attention not only to notice something like that, but to remember it for all this time. Why? Why would he remember that?

 “So, another out of curiosity thing,” Pidge smirked and Keith actually saw Lance paling. Well, except for his ears that were still very red. “you remember _every_  lactose intolerant guy at Garrison or is Keith just that special?” Pidge asked, a smirk on her face

 “E-Every one of my rivals?” Lance stuttered. He seemed to do that a lot since they started this conversation. And look, his neck was now red too.

 “So just Keith?” 

 Lance crossed his arms over his chest, getting a defensive look on his face. Keith knew that look, it was the same one _he_  had to dealwith every time he and Lance bickered their first weeks here.

 “Look, I needed something to sabotage him with, in case things got dirty.” 

“Yeah, right,  _that's_ why you remember,” Pidge mocked, “Oh and _please,_ there's only one way you two would get dirty and it ain't that.”

 “Pidge!” 

 She stuck her tongue out at Lance in response, “That's pay back for my foot, bitch.” 

 Keith ignored paying attention to the comment she'd made, in favour of paying attention to Lance. He still couldn't make sense of the newly found information.  He could see the dots but he just couldn't connect them, because it didn't make any sense. 

 But at least now he had a chance to ask about something he'd been wondering for so long, “Yeah, how did that come to be?”

 Lance stopped glaring at her, looking to him, “What?”

 “The rival thing,” Keith cleared, “cause I have no recollection of it.” sure, he'd played along the rivalry thing when they started at the castle, he was no saint and Lance had a way to drive him crazy, but he had no idea what had made Lance think that back on earth. 

 Lance huffed, sinking further to his seat with a pout, “Real surprising, since you didn't even remember my _name.”_

 Oh, look how the table had turned. Now, he was salty. Keith might've smirked a little, “It sucks when people don't remember something, doesn't it?”

 Lance gave him a questioning look. 

 Pidge's cough sounded suspiciously like the words _‘bonding moment’._ She didn't even try to hide the snicker after it.

 Lance stared at her, before  his eyes went to Keith, an unbelievable look in them, “Are you _serious?_ are you actually comparing that to this?” he scoffed glaring at Keith, “yeah, sorry I don't remember a single moment from when I was injured, concussed and _half dead!_ But you don't remember a guy you had every class with for two quiznacking years!” 

 Keith felt his mouth stay open not just at the outburst, not just at the tone Lance hadn't used with him for so long, but at the fact that he could hear traces of _hurt_  in it.

 The others probably must've felt surprised too, because no one said anything while Lance finished eating the rest of his ice-cream in less than a minute with too much force. His knuckles had gone white around the spoon.

 “I'm gonna train,” he announced as he stood up. Yet, even in his clearly upset state, he paused to give Keith a look, a questioning look of ‘ _are you coming too?’_

 Keith only managed a shake of his head, staring at him while he turned around at left. He turned to Hunk as soon as Lance exited the door.

 “Every class?” 

 “Uh, yeah,” Hunk looked uncomfortable to answer.

 “But ... e _very_ class?” Keith questioned. 

 “Yeah, man.”

 Keith returned to eating the ice cream with a frown. It's not like he had no memory of Lance at garrison at all. Yeah, he didn't remember his name, but that was only because he used to refer to Lance as ... non important right now. He remembered bits and pieces of seeing Lance here and there, but it was barely there. Lance very clearly remembered him, enough to know details like that. Enough to get upset about Keith not remembering him.

 But still, every class? There was _no_ way. Keith would remember. It's not like Lance was something you just couldn't notice. He took all of Keith's attention every time he walked into a room now. 

 He stared at the empty bowl in front of him, dropping his spoon. “Are you sure it was _every_ class?” 

 How could he not have noticed him more?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance totally spent all his time at garrison staring at Keith and we all know it ;)
> 
> This chapter was supposed to be _fun,_ not angsty.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“The beauty of the sea is that it never shows any weakness and never tires of the countless souls that unleash their broken voices into its secret depths.”_
> 
>  
> 
> \- Zeina Kassem  
> 

 Lance sighed as his blaster changed to sword without his permission. He had noticed his bayard doing that sometimes; switching forms without him wanting to. Usually it happened when he was feeling angry, upset, really just too much of any emotion caused it, just as it had the first time. And he might be feeling a little frustrated right now. Yeah, _a little_ , that's why he was hitting the poor bot like it was his lifelong enemy. 

 Even in this short while, his fighting style had changed a lot. He moved around more freely so he was faster and yet, he seemed to have gained control, too. And he owed a lot of it to Keith. He never actually told Lance what to do, he just showed him the move and told him to do it _his_ way. It had been a little annoying, a lot frustrating at first, but once Lance got ahold of it, well, it was quite fun to do it his way. He actually enjoyed training with the sword now, well _usually_ , and didn't do it _just_ because he wanted to get better.

 Lance frowned at the smile on his lips. No, the thought of that guy was not making him smile when Lance was still pissed at him. It just was _not_ fair!

_Stupid Keith. Stupid Garrison._

 The bot dematerialized as his sword sliced through it with much more force than needed. He bent down hands on knees, trying to catch his breath. He was about to call on the next level when he heard the whooshing sound. He turned to the door. _Well, here comes the traitor._

 Lance glared at the boy walking in, “If it isn't the snitch of the century!”

 Hunk made a laugh, walking towards him, “Okay, I guess I kinda deserve that.”

 “Kinda?  _Kinda?!”_

 “Hey, you tried to kick my leg!”

 Even if Hunk was a true cinnamon role, Lance had never been more sorry to miss a target in his life. Hunk had violated at least five different articles of the _bro code_ , “Because you were being a blabber mouth!”

 “Oh, come on,” Hunk rolledhis eyes, “It wasn't _that_ bad.” 

 “Not _that_ bad ...” Lance scoffed, “were you not there?!”

 Hunk had the audacity to laugh _again,_ when Lance glared at him. He held up his hands, “But I come bearing gifts.”

 Lance considered it. He had those cookies Lance liked with him and two juice boxes.

 “Truce?” Hunk asked throwing the patch to Lance, giving him puppy-dog eyes.

 “Fine,” Lance pouted. It's not like they ever actually fought. Opening up the box Lance sat down next to the wall. Hunk slid down next to him too.

 “So,” Hunk cleared his throat, taking one of the cookies, “You kinda blew up back there.” 

 “Yeah,” Lance propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin to it as he sipped the juice. “I just ... How can he not remember me at all, Hunk?”

 Lance was aware he was pouting he couldn't help it. It just wasn't fair, how could Keith not remember him, even _a little?_ Lance certainly remembered him, down to freaking details. He could even remember what angle Keith's stupid mullet had. How could Keith not even remember his name? Lance literally sat behind him in every class. And so _yeah,_ maybe he paid more attention because of the rivalry thing and all that stuff. But it's not like Lance was that unnoticeable and he certainly did a job of getting in Keith's face. He wasn't _that_ forgettable, _even_ if Keith always looked like he had his head up in the clouds back then. Lance was not _that_ forgettable. He just wasn't.

  “He didn't say _at all,_ and didn't he remember you when we first found Shiro, he called you the cargo ...” Hunk trailed off. He knew Lance enough to know not to bring that up, “You know, He doesn't remember me either. I'm not _that_ upset by it.” he smiled at Lance and Lance decided he was not noticing the little bit of teasing in his tone.

 “It's different, you only had two classes with us,” Lance bit into one of the cookies. 

 The engineers had different classes to pilots. They would share more, come as a team in the later years but Keith had already been gone by then. And it was so different with Hunk and Keith. They weren't as close as Lance and him. Not that Hunk and Keith weren't friends or close, but Lance and him were just more close. So yeah, it sucked that Keith didn't remember. 

 “And we were rivals,” he said. At the look on Hunk's face he added, “I know he didn't see us that way, but I did. I mean I got in his face all the time, you remember, right?”  

 “Do I remember you getting into his face? Oh, boy,” Hunk placed a hand on his face, laughing. He laughed even more at Lance's glare. “Lance, that's like me asking you if you remember me talking about food at lunch breaks. We did not went a single day without you mentioning him. Not even _half_ a single day.” 

“He annoyed me, I needed to let it out. I'm not one to keep things in, man,” Lance defended.

 Hunk smacked his forehead, “You _still_  think he annoyed you?” he asked in an unbelieving tone which made no sense.

“Well, _yeah._ You know how much he pissed me off.”  Alright, so back then Lance might've been kind of an ... well, _idiot._ He had taken Keith's closed off personality as more of a _holier than thou_ attitude. Of course now he knew it wasn't that, and Keith was just—adorably—awkward and not that great with people. But back then it had made sense to Lance considering that he also was amazing at everything he did. Which on it's own was another thing that bothered Lance. God, he really was an idiot.  

 Hunk just sighed shaking his head, “Dude, you really need to think more on that, and while you're doing it take into consideration that every time we talk about you remembering him, your ears turn red like they're  the only organ in your body with blood in them.” 

 Lance sat up straight, his hands going to his ears defensively, “No, they don't,” earlier didn't count, they were teasing him. Of course he was gonna blush when they cornered him like that. But he didn't _usually._

 Hunk seemed to suppress his comment, “Anyway, he did lose Shiro after that and spent half a year in a desert alone, I'm sure he would've remembered you other wise.” 

  Lance nodded. Of course he didn't need Hunk to tell him all that, he'd been telling himself that too. So yeah he hadn't been just pissed at Keith, but at himself too. Lance had complained about Keith not remembering him for not hours, not days, but weeks to Hunk when they first got here. But he hadn't actually gotten upset about it for a long time since then. It was bothering him now though. He was _aware_ that it was childish. And while maturing and acting grown up was nice and stuff, did he always have to act grown up? He was happy, really happy that he and Keith's relationship had improved so much since then, but it was actually because of that, that this was bothering him extra right now.

 “And that's not really why I'm here.”

 Bless Hunk for knowing when to back off. With How much Lance had complained to him when they first arrived he knew this was a _no-no_ subject.

 “Remember what Iverson used to say,” Hunk said.

 Lance gave him an eye brow raise. Iverson was even _more_ of a no-no subject, and Hunk knew that.

 But Hunk continued anyway, “After Keith dropped out, about, um, you not following his footsteps?”

 Of course Lance remembered it. He squinted at Hunk, “where are you going with this?” Iverson was the biggest dick in the universe Lance had ever known, and yes, that included Zarkon. To be honest, if they ever ...

 _When,_ when they go back to earth Lance was definitely throwing that he, _the cargo pilot,_ he the _‘I have no idea how you managed to make it in here’,_ h _e_ , _the worst pilot ever_  had ended up being a defender of the universe right And had saved it, and therefore Iverson's sorry ass in it, in more than one occasion right to Iverson's face. 

 “You kinda blew,” Hunk drew him out of the thought. 

 “Yeah, you said that already—"

 “And you're immediate reaction was not to rant to me about it, not to obsessively play a video game, or pout at Keith but to come and train, sounds like someone we know?” Hunk looked at him.

 Lance's brain was filled with different thoughts all at once. Some were frightening, some where ones he'd thought about once in a while in his more down moments. He chose to ignore the others and focus on the more humorous ones.

 “Hunk, dude, I'm not turning into some, pouty angsty hot headed emo and I certainly am _not_ growing a mullet, _ever._  Like ever. _”_  Hunk made a laugh.  
“I'm only training, cause well, I need it,” He admitted, shrugging a shoulder.

 “Okay, just making sure,” Hunk smiled at him, “I like my best friend the way he is.” 

 God, Hunk was too good for this world. “Aw, buddy, you don't have to worry about me.” Lance reassured. The poor guy already had enough anxiety going on.

 “Enough about me, How was your day?” Lance wrapped a hand around his shoulder.

  “You mean before or after you decided to destroy my beautifully tasting ice-creams with all your drama?” Hunk looked at him with a pout.

“Sorry.” 

 “Well, I cried about half an hour trying to make lasagne out of our horrible pasta.”

 Hunk cried a lot, it wasn't a big deal. He had cried on more than occasion about dropping his food to the floor. But if he was mentioning it, well, Lance knew him enough to know it was more serious. “What, why?” he asked.

 “You know, cause _lasagne_ and my mom. And she used to make it ...” Hunk broke in to a sob.

 “Aw, come here,” Lance offered him a hug. 

 To be honest Hunk's mom was the best cook ever, and that was including Hunk and his own mom. Lance had actually spent two weeks at Hunk's house house in the summer between their first and second years. His moms were the kindest sweetest people Lance had met. No wonder Hunk had turned out like that. And cooking was like their _thing,_ something they did as a family. Lance knew it was why Hunk cooked all the time here to feel closer to them. Well that, and his absolute love for food. Lance patted his back as Hunk cried on his shoulder.

 “You're gonna see them again, big guy. We all are.”

 Sometimes, Lance couldn't help but think about he hadn't decided to bring Hunk along that night, if he'd let Hunk go back to their dorm the numerous times he asked the night they found blue, then Hunk wouldn't be here. That it was his fault that Hunk was here too intead of back with his family.

  It wasn't a fair thought because it's not like Lance had known what was gonna happen, and without Hunk they never would've been able to form Voltron, the universe would've been doomed. It wasn't  fair, but times like this, when he saw how homesick his friend was. The homesickness he, himself, felt everyday. It was in these moments that the thought wouldn't leave him alone. He wanted to trll himhe was sorry, he wasn't going to say anything though. There was no point, Hunk would only tell him it wasn't his fault and try to make him feel better. 

 “Thanks man,” Hunk said after they pulled from the hug. “I'm pretty sure there's gonna be tears in tomorrow's food.”

 “Salt is healthy for body,” Lance offered.

 “Yeah, It really _isn't.”_

 “Well, water is.”

 “I'm pretty sure no one wants to have tears in their food, Lance,” Hunk said.

 “Honestly, I take your food with tears in it over the disgusting goo anyday,” Lance earned a laugh from Hunk.

 

 It was as they left the training room that they came across Coran. Hunk mysteriously vanished in less than a second, so Lance had ended up helping clean alone, or at least he thought he had.

 Krolia showed up after a while. Lance had noticed her helping around the castle a few times, guess Keith wasn't the only one hating doing nothing.

 She ended up asking him about Keith as usual. Lance didn't mind talking to her. Thankfully, she didn't ask anything too important from him. Only things like what was Keith like and stuff, well Lance had ... _observed_ him for quite a long time to know things like that.

 “You seem to know a lot about him, how long have you two known each other?” she paused cleaning the pod to look at him.

 Lance opened his mouth to answer, only to close it. Oh, today was just not his day, was it? Like cosmic thing in the universe just wanted to rub the fact in that Lance had known him since the beginning of garrison, but apparently not Keith.

 “You should probably ask him, his answer is probably different from mine,” Lance might've scrubbed the glass with too much force.

 “Is that because of those _two quiznacking years?_ ” her voiced was filled with amusement.

 Oh, right she was there earlier. Wait, then why did she ask? “Yeah,” Lance pouted. He tried not to glare at her at her amused laugh.

 “You're upset by it, It's cute,” she laughed.

 Okay, see, Lance did not appreciate her tone. The same tone she usually took with him every time Lance got a little too carried away at retelling a memory of Keith, or one of their adventures. She sounded like she was talking to a tiny little puppy. It reminded him a lot of the tone his own mom had taken the first time Veronica brought home a boy, and he was really shy. And Lance didn't appreciate the same tone on Keith's mom. It made his face warm up.

 “Anyway,” he cleared his throat. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Considering I've spent the past weeks practically interrogating you, yes.”

 “How did you meet Keith's dad?” Lance had spent a lot of time dwelling on whether he should ask that or not. But god, he was blowing up from curiosity. No matter how much he busted his brain. He couldn't figure it out.

 Krolia had stopped whipping the glass. It took a few seconds, which Lance spent worrying he'd been _too_ curious, for her to speak again. “Well, I, uh, I was—”

 “Wait,” Lance cut in as something occurred to him, “You've told Keith, right?”

 “What?” 

 “Keith, he's asked you about this right?” he questioned. Because he couldn't know things like that before Keith did.

 “No,” she answered. “We don't really _talk.”_ She added at Lance’s raised eyebrows.

 Even with all the time they spent together? Well, Lance couldn't say he was _that_ surprised, “Of course you don't.”

 She looked up at his mutter, smiling at him, “He might not talk to me but I can tell he's not that tense around me anymore. Thank you for that.”

 “I didn't do anything,” Lance questioned.

 She only gave him a knowing look, before looking down with a sigh. She looked too much like Keith when he was upset.

 “Okay, you know what?” Lance stepped away from the glass he was cleaning. “we've done enough cleaning for one day.” he took the cleaning towels from her throwing them with the rest of the cleaning stuff.  
  
“Can you go wait in the lounge?”

 She narrowed her eyes at him as he began walking the other way, “Where are you going?”

 “To get a mullet.”

 Keith hadn't showed up to the training room, he probably thought Lance was upset with him. Alright so Lance was upset but he couldn't completely direct it at Keith. It wasn't his fault that he didn't remember. He'd done nothing wrong.

 Lance made his way to his room. This way he could tell Keith that he wasn't and it seemed like an opportunity to improve Keith's relationship withhis mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance, sweetie, you were _never_ rivals. 
> 
> I'm so sorry about not posting yesterday, something came up, but I'm gonna post the next chapter in a few hour, yes my editing takes _that_ long, to make up for it :)


	26. Chapter 26

 Keith was lying on his bed, staring at the tablet in his hand. He really had nothing to do. Hecould go train, but he didn't know if Lance wanted him there right now, even if he had offered. And Keith might be still in a bit of a shock.

 The knock on his door brought a smile though, even if he hadn't recognised the familiar footsteps, there was only one person who banged on the door like that.

“Open up, mullet.”

 Keith stood up going to the door as it slid open. “Lance, hey—”

 He didn't get a chance to get another word out as Lance's hand was wrapped around his wrist, and he was pulling Keith after him. 

 “Mullet, do you have no sense of curiosity, what so ever?”

 “What are you talking about? Where are you taking me?” Keith asked. Lance's hold on his arm was barely there and Keith could pull his arm out of it if he wanted but he was curious to see what Lance was reacting to. 

 “To find out how your parents met.” 

 On the list of things Keith was expecting _that_ was very fae fetched, enough to not be on the least at all. “What?”

 “Seriously man, how can you not have asked that by now? It's like what any normal person would want to know, and this is by _no_ means _normal!_ Like don't you wanna know what the shit was going on in your dad's head? What was the man thinking? Did he just go ‘ _oh, look it's purple but pretty, I'mma keep it?’”_

 Lance looked back when Keith didn’t say anything. He didn't know what expression he was showing but whatever it was made Lance come to a halt, still not letting go of his hand. He gave Keith a smile, “You don't have to if you don't want to hear it now. I, for one, would be curious, but if you're not ready yet—”

 Keith wasn't sure why it still surprised him when  Lance gave him the option to chose, it really shouldn't with all the times Lance had done it, but it did. It also filled his chest with warmth. 

 And of course he was curious. Of course he wanted to know, he had wondered about it a lot. he just hadn't gathered it in him to ask, but now that the opportunity was here ... he interrupted Lance, “No, you're right, I want to know.”

Lance smiled at him, “Good, cause Krolia's waiting for you in the lounge, I'm sure you know the way.” he pointed in the direction of the lounge before turning to leave.

 He didn't get to though as this time Keith's hand reached for his, “You're not coming with me?” He might not have said what he meant which was ‘ _Can you come with me?’_ but he knew Lance had heard it in his tone.

 The other boy's face turned softer, before a grin took over, “Hell yeah I am, I wanna know what was going on in your dad's furry head.”

 Lance walked by his side in silence the rest of the way. He only gave him a questioning look at the entrance of the lounge, one that Keith took as an ‘ _are you sure?’._ The smile was voluntary as he nodded. Taking a breath in, he followed Lance to the room.

 Krolia was sitting on one of the couches. She looked up as they entered. Keith greeted her with a _hey,_ she answered with a nod as he took the seat opposite from her. Rather than taking a seat next to him, Lance sat on the floor, leaning his back to the couch next to Keith's legs.

 “So go ahead, Keith's mom, tell us how papa and mama mullet met. Give us the love story of the twenty third century. Was it love at first sight or was it more of an alien probing situation?”

 Did Lance actually just say that? Keith bit back his snort. Krolia didn't seem to bother, though.

 “No, it was not a ... _probing_  situation,” she paused “I-I don't even know where to start.”

“How about how did you end up on earth? Was it about to get attacked? Were you the knight in shining armour that saved our planet and got your furry princess?”

 This time the snort escaped Keith. He saw the way Lance looked at him from the corner of his eyes, smiling more. He could tell Lance was kind of going out of his way to make the mood lighter. 

 “No, no,” they both looked to Krolia as she spoke, “Earth wasn't even on Galra maps before you guys showed. Well, I was on a mission gone wrong when I came across the milky way. I was trying to shake the galra ships from my tail, managed to shoot them down but not before one of them damaged my pod. I was crashing and Earth was the only planet with breathable atmosphere in your galaxy. Unfortunately, I realised too late that it was inhabitant. It's never good to land on new planets alone. But I was already crashing so I looked for a spot with less people in it. Hopinh no one would find me. A desert. Unfortunately, I did not account in for lonely people who lived afar from others,” she made a small laugh looking up at him, “I almost crashed into your father with my pod—”

 “Aw, accident meeting,” Lance cut in, he was hugging his knees, “that's like the story of at least ten of my favourite romances.”

 “How many favourite romances do you have?” Keith questioned. People usually used the word _‘favourite’_  for one, or at least few things.

 Lance turned his head to look at him, “Have you met me? Like a billion.”

 It actually had taken Keith a long time—much longer than necessary, in fact it had taken him over-hearing  one of Lance's conversation with Hunk on the subject—to realize Lance wasn't just a _flirt._ Sure, he generally flirted a lot, and Keith could tell sometimes it was just his way of boosting the mood, but it was clearly more than that. He seemed to be genuinely infatuated with the idea of love. It was something that he deeply wanted to have. Keith supposed it made sense of the over-flirting, Lance was looking for it whenever and wherever he could. The idea of him finding it in any of those places made Keith's stomach turn. Though, Lance seemed to be doing that a lot less, or at least back when Keith had still been here he seemed to have decreased it. Keith had absolutely no idea what had gone on in the months he'd been gone. But Lance's flirting with Allura had definitely decreased, thank god, and even when he did, it was ... it was _different,_ now. It seemed rather just  _friendly_ than actually flirting.

 Or maybe Keith was just looking too much into it.  He looked at Lance's smile at him, or maybe he was looking just about right into it?

 Krolia's voice took his attention, “I thought he would call the authorities on me, I was injured so I really had no way of defending myself, but he _didn't._  He helped me, well once he was done screaming ‘ _You're an alien,’_ at me,” she laughed, “he helped me and took care of my injury, let me stay at his house, helped me rebuild the ship. And he was just there for me, I didn't expect him to but he _was._ and I-I fell for him,” she was smiling, patting the couch next to her.

 It was different to hear about his dad like that. From what Keith remembered, ignoring what had happened at the end, he was a good man. Not around that much, but still a semi-decent man. But the way she was describing him, that's not how Keith remembered him. He couldn't help but wonder if it was losing her that had changed the man so much. He couldn't imagine what that would do to a person.

  _“Aw,”_  Lance’s whisper made Keith look to him. He had his chin propped over his knees. Keith really tried not to think about her words.

“By the time I finally managed to at least fix my communicator, I have never been one to handle tech very well, it took me months to do just that, And well, by then I was,” she looked up, eyes looking into Keith's. “I was already pregnant.”

 Keith couldn't believe he hadn't considered this would be where the story ended. She hadn't told him this story, after all, just the reason of why the blade needed her and she needed yo leave. And well, Keith hadn't asked her.

 Lance hadn't considered it ending here either, if his _oh_ was any indication.

 “Do you, do you want me to leave?”

 Lance hadn't said the words out loud but as a whisper. Keith had heard it. He didn't know if all galra had powerful senses or was it just half galras, and he didn't care. Even if Krolia had heard it, The words where meant for him. Lance was looking back at him from the corner of his eyes, Keith shook his head. _God no,_ if she was gonna start talking about leaving him he needed Lance here.

 “Kolivan ordered me to to come back, but I wasn't going to.”

 Keith couldn't help his scoff.

 Yellow eyes looked into his, and he wished he could see anything but honesty in them, “I _wasn't._  Specially not after I had you, not after I _held_ you,” her face turned softer tgan Keith thought possible for falra to look, “oh, you were the tiniest thing. So quiet, and sweet, you just stared around with those big eyes,” she tapped on the panel on her arm and a holographic picture showed up above it, more like a motion picture.

 “Is that ...?” Lance asked for the both of them. Krolia nodded.

 “Oh my god, you're so _squishy._ look at your adorable face.”

 Keith, for once, couldn't pay attention to Lance. He was too busy staring at _her._ She had her other hand on her chest, her eyes had teared up, and she was looking at the image of him as if it was the most important thing in the universe.

 “What ... what happened?” he asked.

 Her face changed immediately, _“S_ omeone saw me with you. He was _military,_  no matter how much your father tried to convince him he'd imagined it, he wouldn't buy it. We couldn't let him leave and return with more people.”

 “What did you do?” Lance asked.

 Keith's mind went to a dark place. Someone military had seen her with Keith, and just let an alien leave, and the other live. Didn't seem possible, not unless ... “You ... you killed him, didn't you?”

 His horrified tone mirrored in the look Lance gave him before returning to her.

 “Yes,” she answered, rather simply, rather cold.

 Keith really had wished she would say no. They all had killed people. That wasn't the issue, or it _was_ but not something they could help. But killing soldiers of the empire was one thing, killing a person just because they were in the wrong time and place was another.

 “You killed an innocent person?” 

 “Yes,” she did not waver at his tone, “I could not risk it. if he'd just seen me _maybe,_ but he saw _you._ W _e_ couldn't let him leave with that knowledge. Who knew what they would do to you, what sort of,” her face scrunched up, _“tests, experiments_  they would try to perform on you. Travis told me they would take you away, that was _not_ happening. So yes, I killed an innocent man.”

 Keith didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to say to _that?_

 She continued, “But it became clear after that. I was a danger to you, me staying around put you in jeopardy.” she sighed.

 _Oh,_ she hadn't told him this reason before.

 “So, so I-I left.” she sighed, looking down.

 “Why-why didn't you take me with you?”

 Lance's shoulder brushed to his knee. It was a way of him to offer support and Keith appreciated it.

 “I couldn't, I wanted to but Blade is no place for kids and a non-galra looking one.”

 _“Oh,”_  Keith didn't like the crack in his voice. He wrapped his hands around himself unconsciously. So he had never felt welcome at earth because he had never been able to connect with people enough, but he also wasn't welcome with the galra because he wasn't truly one of them?

 It was Lance who broke the silence after a few minutes. “Okay, so you, you left, but you could've at least left him a letter, a note, _something_ to explain to him,” Lance looked at her with a frown, “Do you know how much he went through, how much he struggled when he was finding out about he was galra? He almost got himself killed.”

 Keith stared at him and his tone. It was very cold towards her, but there was something about it.

 Krolia looked at him with concern, “I made Travis promise to explain it all to you. I made him promise not to ever do what _I_ did, to ever leave you.”

 “Well, in case you missed it he didn't keep the promise,” Keith looked down. 

 “I know, I'm _sorry.”_

 Her tone was soft but it did not stop Keith from drawing more back to himself.

 “You okay?”

 Another whisper from Lance. Keith could feel his eyes on him. He nodded.

 “I-I have one question for you,” Keith spoke up. He had thought about this one a lot, “if you could go back, would you stay or do it differently?”

 She stayed silent for the longest time, “If you would've asked me that all these years, before meeting you, I would've said yes without a second thought.”

 Keith could sense the _but_ in there, “But?”

 “But, now, look at you,” she gestured towards him with a smile, “Look at the man you've become, my beautiful son. The amazing fighter you are, the best pilot I've seen, a _paladin of voltron_. Look at all the family you have found for yourself,” her eyes went to Lance before returning to him, _“no,_ I wouldn't want you to be someone else, I wouldn't want you to not have these people, would you?”

 Keith looked away from her yellow eyes, and down to his crossed arms. _Would_ he? On one hand, he could grow up with a family, grow up not feeling like he wasn't _enough,_ grow up feeling like he had a home, like he belonged. On the other hand, not knowing Shiro, not knowing _Lance,_ not knowing everyone here, Keith wasn't sure he would be able to live with that, without them.

 _“_ I don't think that's a very fair thing to ask him,” Lance said, in _that_ tone again.

“He asked me,” She pointed out.

 _“He_ has a right to. But he shouldn't need to answer it. Of course, he wants to meet us but that doesn't mean he should've lost a mother to get here.” 

  _Protective,_ Keith realised. That was the thing about Lance’s tone, it was very protective, of _him,_ and safe, his tone made Keith feel safe. Keith only could stare at him. How many things had ever made him feel safe? How nany people had ever made him feel this safe? Keith could count the total number on one hand. 

 “You are right,” Krolia sighed, “but I can't change my past mistakes, I can only hope to make up for them in the future.” 

 She gave Keith one last look, before standing up, “I'll give you some time.”

 Lance turned around as soon as she left, “I'm so sorry, Keith, I should've known it would get here, I didn't even stop to think—”

“It's  fine,” Keith reassured before he would blame himself, _more._  

 “No, Keith, I shouldn't have been here, it was a moment between you and her—”

  _“No,_ It's alright.” Keith cut in again. He really hoped his eyes told what he really meant. _I wanted you here._ Keith _needed_ him here.

 Lance stood up from the floor to seat next to him on the couch, “Are you?” 

 Keith stared at his still crossed arms. “She's not wrong. If she'd stayed, I would never meet you ... guys.”

 “We don't know that.” Keith looked up at Lance's voice. Soft blue eyes looked into his, “We don't know that, Keith, with your amazing skills you probably would've  ended up at garrison anyway.”

  “We-we'd be rivals.”

 Lance made a small laugh, “Assuming you'd notice this time. Which I would make  you in time. We'd probably end up fighting all the time, like we did here then I'd get over at myself and some point and realize you're just a weirdo who'd actually make a better friend than rival. You would probably resist it at first, but then I'd make you tag along with me, Hunk and Pidge. And then one night, I'd force us all to sneak out cause you know, your ass is too serious and you'd need some chilling. And voilà we'd found Shiro, and blue and we'd end up just right here. But like she said there's no changing the past.” 

 Keith blinked at him a few times. “You really ... think that?” 

 Lance smiled at him, “I think I just realized this but yeah. Maybe the details would be different but yeah, yeah, we would always end up here.” 

 

 Keith didn't say anything. He didn't ask what had changed his mind. He didn't tell him that he didn't believe in fate. He didn't say anything. And neither did Lance. He just sat next to him for the entire next hour that Keith sat there thinking about everything he'd learned. He just sat there next to Keith in silence, his shoulder grazing Keith's once in a while, anchoring him from being taken away by the waves of thoughts. He just sat there. And Keith had a feeling that if Keith needed him to, he would sit there next to him forever.

 Eventually Keith's thoughts began calming down, he turned to Lance, “Lance, about earlier ...” 

 Lance cut him off with a smile, “It's cool, man. You can come back to the training room.” he joked.

 “It-it feels too empty without you anyway.” he added after a second.

 

 As weird as it was, it became easier for Keith to talk to, or just be around Krolia after that.it felt like he'd faced the worse, and now there was only going up from there.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus, this chapter killed me.
> 
> Seriously though, I still want the canon story of how the hell Keith's parents met. _Give me the furry Kogane, DreamWorks._
> 
> Also I'm imagining the Voltron story is set around two centuries in the future. I mean come on, they have a school for astronauts, it has to be set somewhere in the future, probably not _that_ long. But that's what I'm going with, I have no idea why. 
> 
> And I have not slept in two days so please forgive any typos, at this point the entire Alphabet looks the same to me :)


	27. Chapter 27

“Remind me again why I'm doing this?”

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest as Lance continued to push him forward with both hands. 

“Because I promised I would help Coran.”

 “Yeah, _you_ promised, why do I have to do this?” Keith turned his head to look at him. He might be smirking a little, and dragging his feet a little just because he could. 

 “Because Shiro's having a sudden meeting with Allura, and she asked me there,” Lance answered, pinching him in the shoulder, Keith might not have have been doing a great job at hiding that smirk. “and I told you that already like three times.” 

 “That still doesn't explain why _I_ have to do this. Can't you just help him tomorrow?” 

“No, I promised I'll help him tonight. Keith, come on, I promise it's not gonna be _that_ hard, he'll even tell you what to do.”

 Keith came to a halt in favour of sending him a glare. It only got him another laugh. 

 Lance's grin toned down into something softer as he let go of his shoulders, “I just don't want him to do all that work alone,” he looked at Keith.

 Keith had been planning on helping the first second Lance asked him to. But the look Lance was giving him now, what was with those rounded eyes? And why did Keith felt like there was no way he could say no to them. He found himself saying, “Fine. ”

Lance's grin returned in half a second, “Thanks, man.”

 Wait, what just happened? 

 Keith squinted at him after a second, “but you owe me one.” 

 “Fine, I'll owe you one.” A vibration of his communicator interrupted his eye-roll. Lance took a look at it before looking up to Keith with a smile, “You can make the rest of the way on your own, right?”  

 Keith nodded. Ha had only taken a step when Lance called, “Wait, Keith if he starts talking and stuff, just let him, okay?”

 Keith looked at him, questioning. What else would he do? He ended up just nodding.

 Lance turned to leave, but turned on his heels, “And don't you dare tune him out.”

 Oh, so that's what he meant. “I wasn't ... going to.” Keith said, even though he _was._ Coran was just very chatty and Keith might sometimes, _a lot_ of times, not pay attention to what he was saying. But the others didn't either.

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, _“Yeah, right,_ you tune _me_ out half the time!”

 Keith tried not to laugh at the boy's tiny pout. Keith might've done that a lot when they first arrived at the castle, but he hadn't done that in a long time. Lance's stories were usually quite interesting to hear, and Keith found himself calming down when listening to him. Keith didn't say any of that out loud. He could tell Lance wasn't actually upset, his tone was too indignant and dramatic to be actually hurt.

 “I'm serious, though,” Lance pointed his index finger at him, a very serious look on his face.

 Keith held his hands up, “Alright, I won't.”

 “Good—” Lance was interrupted by another vibrate of his communicator, “Okay, _jeez,_ I'm coming.” Lance glared at the device. “Tell Coran I'm sorry.” he said as he hurried out the hallway.

 

 “Lance, is that you?” Coran looked up as Keith entered the infirmary.

 “No, it's me.” Keith answered, walking to the man. “He's at a meeting with Allura and Shiro.”

 “Oh,” Coran's shoulders visibly slumped. Though, he replaced the disappointed look with a warm smile at Keith, “Well, come on we don't have all night.” 

 Keith tried, he _really_ did, to listen to what Coran was saying as they began cleaning the pods. He only succeeded for a few minutes, though. But in his defence the man was rambling on about his gambling adventures. Keith might've gotten pulled into his own train of thoughts. He tried to stop and pay attention everytime he noticed, but jesus, the man's stories were never ending. Though Keith looked up when he heard that. 

 “... and he looked me saying, _‘but dad I_ —”

 “You have a son?”

 Keith hadn't been able to control himself from cutting in. Because _what?_  

 Coran stopped scrubbing the pod. It was only as he looked at Keith that he saw the sad smile on his face, it turned even sadder as he spoke, “Had. I _had_ a son.”

 Even if it didn't show on his face, Keith heard the crack in his voice. Oh, of course, all alteans had died ... ten thousand years ago. Keith just had never ... oh, god. “I'm sorry, I didn't know.” he whispered.

  _How_ could he not have known? He'd known the man for almost two years, now. They've spent so much time together. Even if Keith wasn't that much of a ... people person, when you were sharing a castle-ship with only six other people you ended up knowing things about them. So how could he not know? Why had he never thought about the man having a family, the man _losing_ them. Why had Keith never thought about that?

 “It's alright. You lads, all have a lot to deal with,” Coran smiled at him before returning to cleaning the pod.

 So the others didn't know either? How many times had Coran talked about his family about anyone noticing? Was Allura the only one who knew? Did Lance know? Of course he _did,_ Keith realised.Lance spent more time with the man than anyone else.  _‘Let him talk.’_ Was this what Lance had meant?

 “What was he like?” Keith asked, “Can I ask?” 

 At least the question seemed to bring a smile to the man. “Oh, he had more energy in him than a new born yupper. Once he started walking there was nothing in the house was safe from him...” 

 Keith listened to him as he talked about his son. Didn't tune him out for even a second, listening like his life depended on it. Yet, some part of his brain couldn't help but think back to when they first got here, when they had found the Alteans. That must've been the moment Coran had realised he's lost his family too, yet he never mourned them—at least not in front of them—He had immediately went to Allura, to comfort her. Keith's heart ached at the thought of the man grieving his family alone. The man was always there for the rest of them. Always there to help. They should appreciate him more.

 Keith still listened as the man trailed to other stories. Now that Keith was actually listening they were not boring. 

 “You're missing a spot.”

 He looked up to see Coran shaking his head at him.  
Keith looked back at pod, at the tiny _tiny_ spot he'd missed. _Seriously?_  “Do these things even need this much cleaning? How often do we need to clean them if no one's been in them?”

 “Now, you're starting to sound like Lance,” Coran curled his mustache, “That boy's always complaining about these pods. Still thinks they're after him.”

 Keith shuddered at the reminder of that day. It had not been a fun one. He wasn't sure which one was worse; the memory of that gladiator attacking him, or seeing Lance almost getting ejected to space. Actually, no, he _was_ sure which one was worse. He shuddered at the thought of anything like tgat happening to Lance.

 Coran's face turned soft, “He's a good one, that lad. Reminds me a lot of myself in my younger days.”

 Keith silently agreed. Lance was a lot like him even now. Lance was always there for everyone else too. Never asking for anything in return, too. 

 It was around half an hour later that Keith remembered of something he'd been wanting to ask, Coran seemed the only person on the castle who would know something like that.

“Coran, can I ask you something?”

 “Of course, my boy.”

 “You know about my ... heightened senses, right?” Keith looked at him.

Coran huffed a laugh, “How could I not? Number five has been driving me crazy with the questions.”

 Keith could relate. When Pidge got curious about something, she _really_  did not stop till she got to the bottom of it. She'd taken at least a dozen different hearing, visual and other tests from him. At some point, Keith's head had started feeling like it was about to burst with all the different senses. She'd only stop when Lance had told her to, and not without putting up a fight. One that had ended in _‘Enough, already, Pidge. He's not your lab rat, and you're hruting him, can't you see?’_ The sorry look she'd given Keith after that had made it clear that she hadn't. He didn't blame her. She could get too carried away sometimes, and it's not like he'd voiced anything. He wasn't even sure how Lance had noticed, yet he wasn't surprised that he _had._

 Keith took a breath in, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to this particular question. It's something he's been afraid of for a while, “Do you think I'm going to change too?”

 Coran paused his work to look at him with questioning eyes.

 “I mean ... physically.” 

 “Hmm,” Coran exclaimed, “I'm not quite sure. My knowledge on half breeds isn't that vast. Specially galra ones. Galran interbreeds were quite rare back in my days,” he looked at Keith with fascination. “But I do know the galra genes are usually dominant.”

 “Oh,” Keith whispered, looking away. Did that mean he was going to change? He knew he was galra, he'd accepted it for some time now. But he really didn't want to look like one. Not that he had anything against how they looked, but he was afraid to look like one of them. It felt like losing one of the last part of him that was still human.

 And those yellow eyes, Keith really couldn't say he was a fan of those. And what would the others on the team think of it? They had been supportive everytime, but what if it made them uncomfortable? Keith's insides turned at the thought of them acting different, unfamiliar—scared—towards him, even if his brain screamed at him that they,specially a blue eyed one of them, would never ever do that.

 He didn't have too much time to freak out before Coran continued, “But then again, you've looked like this your whole life, if they were going to affect the way you look, they would've by now. It's not like you'll just going to turn purple.”

 “Oh, so you don't think I'll ...?” 

The older man smiled at him, “No, I don't think you're going to change.” 

 A sigh of relief escaped him. 

 “Though, you could ask your mother, she might know more.”

 “Thanks,” Keith returned his smile, “I'll keep that in mind.” he wasn't going to. He might be in a way more comfortable with her now. But it was no where near taking his fears to her.

 By the time Coran finally had mercy on his hands, and let him go, it was later than midnight. Keith found his way to his room and to his bed tired. Yet, he did not fell sleep till he heard Lance returning to his room.

 

  _What the fuck is that?_  Was the question in his head as he began to drift back to consciousness. What was that sound? Wait, were they under attack? Keith finally came to it enough to realize it was the sound of knocking at his door.

“Keith, you in there?”

“Lance?” he questioned, barely managing to sit up on his bed as the door opened. “What's wrong?” he asked, worried. What had happened? Why was Lance there at this hour?

 “Who said something is wrong?”

 Keith could only stare through half lidded eyes as Lance pranced in the room with the biggest smile on his lips and a blanket wrapped around him. 

 It was too early for _that_ big of a grin. Keith just flumped back to his pillow face forward.

 “What the hell do you want?” he grumbled, voice travelling through the pillow.

 “Well, good morning to you too,” Lance answered, in a cheery voice.

 Keith turned hid head to glare at him from the corner of his eyes, “It's the middle of the night, _what_ do you want?”

 He felt his bed shaking as Lance slumped down on it. “To share some good news. We're finally going on a mission, can you believe that?”

 No, Keith could _not_ believe that. _That_  being the fact that Lance had showed up at that god forsaken hour there just to tell him that. _“Why_  the hell was that necessary for me to know right now?”

 “It wasn't, but I've been pacing in my room since last night. I'm too excited to sleep—”

 “Oh, so you decided to disturb my sleep _too?”_

He pushed his face more to the pillow as Lance put a hand on his shoulder to make him look up.

  “Come on, be more enthusiastic. I have not left this walls in _so_ long, I've forgotten how the outside world looks like. I have not smelt fresh air in _so_  long _._ Be happy for me _._  Show some excitement, man.”

 Keith propped up on his elbow to look at Lance, he gave him a fake smile, “There, now good night.”

  _“Keith.”_

 Keith glared at him at the way he'd laughed and drawled his name. “Lance, you are aware that I keep a knife under my pillow, right?”

 Lance's eyes rounded, “What? You _still_ do that? Keith we talked about this. I told you to quit doing it, it's not safe.”

 So technically he didn't keep the blade there anymore, but Lance didn't know that. “Oh, It's very safe, and _useful_ for times when let's say, over excited lanky noodles are trying to keep me from sleep,” he threatened.

 Lance snorted, looking at him with amusement, “Dude, you are _not_ a morning person.”

 “It's not _morning!”_  Keith threw his hands towards the digital clock.

 “Fine, fine, I'm leaving,” Lance held up his hands in defeat. “way to burst my bubble, man.”

 Keith dropped his face back to the pillow with a grown, “My hand is on the knife, and if you don't leave right now that bubble is not the only thing _bursting.”_

 Lance jumped up from the bed laughing. “I didn't know you were this grumpy when you're sleepy. You're like ... a grumpy cat.”

 The growl that escaped Keith did not sound very human. He threw his pillow at Lance. Lance only threw it back at him, with another laugh. Keith thanked every god when he began walking to the door, yet the other boy stopped there looking back.

“It's kinda cute.” 

 With a wink he vanished, leaving Keith to stare at the door that had closed after him, feeling his face warm up. 

 He only had few minutes of heart warming peace after that though. Then Lance started singing next door.

 Keith punched the wall next to him, “For fuck’s sake Lance, it's _4_  in the morning.”

 “Wha-I can't even sing in my own room?” Lance answered in his _little shit_ voice.

 “It feels like you're throwing a concert _inside_ my brain.”

 Keith was ready to sahe was asking Coran to give him a new room tomorrow when Lance began singing again. But it sounded more of a hum now. Barely audible. It was actually quite calming. Keith felt his eye-lids closing to the sound.

 

 The next time he woke up, he wasn't sure why he had. Checking the clock, it only had been half an hour since earlier and he was still pretty tired. Yet he couldn't fall sleep. The humming wasn't there anymore. He couldn't hear Lance in his room either.

 Keith tried to go back to sleep but he just ended up moving around for the next two hours.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all,
> 
>   **Happy Pride Month!!!**
> 
> **☆*･゜ﾟ･*\\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆**
> 
> Can't wait to be hit with all the gay.
> 
> Second of all, thanks for everyone being sweet about the sleep thing. I might've slept like twelve hours straight last night, so I'm cured.
> 
> Lastly, grumpy Keith is the _best_ Keith. Fight me on this (ง •̀_•́)ง


	28. Chapter 28

 Keith eventually gave up on going back to sleep. A quick splash of water to his face and he started making his way to the kitchen. Maybe he'll get rid of the sleep after he ate something.

 He decided to change course when he heard chattering coming from, he guessed, the bridge. He really tried to fight the smile as he recognised Lance’s voice. So that's where he'd gone. His voice was accompanied by Allura's and Shiro's. A frown took over Keith face as he got closer to the room and the words became clearer.

 “... But Shiro, you said I was coming too.”

 “Yeah, I said that and then I changed my mind, Allura should be on this mission.”

 “You changed your mind in the last three hours of sleep?” 

 “Yes, I've thought on it, she's better suited for this.” A sigh, “See, this is why I don't like you coming to me and Allura's meeting. You end up expecting things.”

 The remaining of the sleep left Keith at the words. He sobered up as he arrived at the entrance of the bridge. But something kept him from going in. He stood there, behind the wall looking in; Allura was standing a little further from the two, arms crossed and frowning. Well, all three of them were frowning.

 “Shiro, come on—”

 “Look, I know you really want to be on this mission,” Shiro cut in. He sighed, placing his left arm on Lance's shoulder. “But this isn't a ... participation game, Lance, we need our best for the job.”

 Keith froze in his place, questioning his hearing. Did Shiro just say that? Those _exact_ words? There was no way. Shiro wouldn't do that ... _right?_

 Keith really hoped Lance at least didn't recognize the wording. But if the taken aback look on the boy's face was any indication he must've. It vanished quickly from his face. Even from that far Keith heard the small shaky inhale clearly. Lance’s face turned serious.

 “You still need red,” he pointed to the panel. A holographic map of what looked like surface of a planet there. “That place is practically just one big volcano and if something goes wrong you're gonna need her.” There was a clear ‘ _even if you don't need me,’_ hidden in the words.

 “He's right, which is exactly why we agreed on him being on this mission,” Allura looked at Shiro. Glared, glared was the better word for that look. It matched the coldness in her voice.

 Shiro shook his head, in a way that made it look like they were proposing the craziest idea ever, “Alright, you, Pidge and me will—”

 “You know, I still think we should just take everyone.” Lance interrupted.

 “Because that worked _so_ well last time we did that?” Shiro answered. Keith didn't know what he was talking about but it made Lance retreat a little, looking down. Shiro only shook his head, “we went over this enough times. I told you, we're not taking Voltron. We don't want them see us coming.”

 Lance still tried to counter, “But, it makes more sense to take Voltron. We sweep in, catch some—”

 Shiro held up his hand, “Enough Lance,” he sighed a very exasperated sigh, “it's not _your_ decision to make.”

 

 “You know you don't actually have to eavesdrop, you can just go in.”

Keith jumped up at Hunk's voice. He turned around to see him and Pidge standing behind him with smirks. It was rare for people to be able to sneak up on him. But he'd been too caught up in the conversation to notice them.

 “Oh, hey,” he greeted.

 Pidge smirked even further, raising an eyebrow, “So, anything interesting?”

 Keith couldn't help the frown. _‘Interesting,’_ wasn't the word he would use for what he just heard. _Questionable, confusing_ maybe, not _interesting._ He just entered the bridge. The two after him.

 “So, what's all this mission talk I hear?” Pidge asked.

 Somehow the atmosphere between the three there seemed even more tense now. Yet, Lance smiled as he looked at them. “Hey, guys.” He nodded towards Keith, “mullet.” Apparently he did not fall under the category of _guys,_ and needed to be greeted separately.

 “I'm sure you can brief her in, we leave in an hour.” Shiro ordered Lance, pointing to Pidge.

 “Yes, sir,” Lance saluted as the man walked by. All the tension already gone. Shiro was frowning too much to roll his eyes as he usually used to do. And since when did he not go through every step of the plan with them himself? Keith frowned watching the man exit.

 “We're going on a mission?” Hunk's question returned his attention back to the room.

 “Yuppity yup,” Lance walked to the panel, “Well, actually me and Pidge are. Sorry, big guy.” he paused to look at Hunk.

  _“Yes!”_

 They looked to Hunk at his excited word, and the way he pumped his fist in the air. He shrugged, “What? I've been working on this _stupid_ Altean cake recipe, no offence,” he looked towards Allura. “it just won't work. It thinks it's _so_ slick, well I'm planning on cracking it today. We'll see who the slick one is _then._ So if you don't need me, I'm out,” he began walking out, probably going to the Kitchen.

 “Kick its ass!” Lance cheered, calling after him.

 “I _will!”_

 Pidge shook her head, laughing, _“Anyway,_ what's the mission?”

 There was no reason for Keith to stick around either, but he was curious to see what the mission was. And his mind was still stuck on what he'd heard earlier. Unlike Allura, Lance’s frown was almost gone, but that was not very reassuring. Couldn't Lance have less control over his emotions, so Keith could figure him out easier?

 “We're going galra hunting.”

 “We're catching the three musketeers.”

 Allura and Lance looked at each other at their simultaneous answers.

 “Three ... musketeers?” she questioned looking at him.

 “‘ _Galra hunting?_ ’ really Allura? That's offensive.” Lance looked back at her with a small frown.

 “No, it is not.” she answered. It must've been quite indignant to be called out by Lance.

 It was Pidge who cut in, “Is either one of you gonna _tell_ us who the hell are the ... three musketeers?”

 Lance looked to her with a smile, “Lotor's generals. You know the ones we fought with.”

 That finally piqued Keith's interest. There was something about them, or more precisely about one of them.

 “Well, we know they're working for Zarkon's scary witch lady, and since she's been MIA for a while now, prince douchebag thinks—”

  _“Lance,”_ Allura cut him off to give him a look.

_“Yes, Princess?”_

 Keith bit back his snort at Lance mimicking her tone and accent perfectly. Lance stared at her innocently as she continued to glare at him.

 Lance raised his hands eventually, huffing a laugh, “Fine, Prince _I do not know what scissors are_ , that's the best you're gonna get from me about that guy,” he answered Allura before she could even open her mouth. It resulted in her shaking her head, rolling her eyes, “thinks she must be up to no good. Which it pains me _greatly_ to admit, but he might be right.”

 “Yeah,” Allura agreed, nodding towards them. “Lotor has told me there's been more and more galra activity and they're beginning to look more organised. We think she might be behind it.”

 Keith frowned. Unfortunately, the blade had been receiving the same news too. Well, at least last he'd been there.

 He looked up as Lance tapped on the panel to zoom in on the hologram picture, “So we're trying to find the three. Hence, meet planet ...” his face scrunched up as he stared at the symbols, “Yeah, I have no idea how to read that. Allura?”

 She focused on the name, pronouncing a series of sounds after that. “I think.” she added.

 “That sounds made up,” Pidge commented. She was already reading all the tiny details. 

 Even Allura nodded, “Yes, it does. The planet had been reporting sights of what matched their description best. So we ... you're going to check it out.”

 “Hopefully, we'll catch one, get them to rat her out. Get rid of _the hunched lady of the galra_ , get rid of this war once and for all, get back to earth as heroes, get a parade, get laid a lot,” Lance made a clicking sound with his tongue, pointing finger guns, “get ... yeah that's about as many _gets_ as we're ever gonna get, so go gear up, Pidge.”

 Keith shook his head, laughing. Even their good plans rarely ever went as expected, let alone that. He was aware that Lance didn't believe any of that, well the serious parts, was gonna happen any time soon, only saying that to make them laugh.

 “But _after_ breakfast, I'm starving.” Lance added, beginning to walk before Pidge called.

 “Wait, I still have a question,” she had a very serious tone, yet a grin took over her face as they turned to look at her. “Why three musketeers?”

 “Well, we gotta call them _something,”_ Lance answered. He ignored Allura's _‘I can ask Lotor their names.’_ as he went on.

 “And Lotor's _ex-half-galra-generals_ sounds too long, Lotor's _ex-lady-friends_ sounded ...” he grinned at Allura as she squinted at him, _“vague._ It was either the _witch's bitches_ or three musketeers. And let's face it, they're kinda cool.”

 As Keith and the other two stared at him, he shrugged, “Oh, _come on._ Ignoring that they're fighting against us, they are. Like that pink one could go invisible, how awesome is that?”

 Keith thought back to how hard fighting them had been and decided _not at all._

 “So, yeah, three musketeers it is.”

 “ _Witch's bitches_ sounds much cooler,” Pidge disagreed.

 “Pidge, _no.”_

 “Why not? _You_ came up with it.”

 “And then dismissed it because in this house we respect women.”

 Pidge huffed, waving her hand dismissively, “And as a woman I can be disrespectful if I want.”

 “No, you can't. We've raised you better than that, young lady.”

 Keith held back his laugh at the way Lance had said that, a hand on his hip, the other pointing a finger at Pidge. Allura didn't bother, though.

Pidge swatted his hand, making a face at him, “Don't call me _young lady_. I already have a dad and a space dad. I do _not_ need another one.”

 “Good, cause I'm too young, too pretty to be dad. I mean look at this face,” Lance pointed to his face, “does it look like it has enough wrinkles to be a dad? Now, someone's daddy, that I can pull.”

 Keith tried not to cringe or snort, but he ended up doing both. Crap Lance said to make them laugh. Though his snort was nothing to Pidge's loud and slow one. It resulted in Lance squinting at her, “Whatcha laughing at Pidgeon, I can pull a daddy act.”

 “Please, you can't even pull a _baby_ right.”

 Lance gasped dramatically, “You take that back right now. I can be a baby, I can be the babiest of the babies,” as if to proving the point he wrapped his arm around Pidge's neck.

  _“Ow,_ let me go.”

B“I'll let you go when you start behaving,” Lance began walking, having Pidge still in a headlock, “now come on, I'm starving, and we only got like twenty minutes left,” he gestured with his other hand for Keith and Allura to follow.

 Keith shared a look with her, shaking his head even though he knew there was a fond smile on his face. She was smiling too.

 Lance eventually let go of Pidge when she threatened to kick him in the shin. He lowered his pace to fall next to Keith.

 “You look like shit.”

 “Thanks,” Keith gave him a fake smile. It earned a small laugh. “Whose fault is that?”

 “Sorry, I was just—”

 “Excited?” Keith finished, he really tried to fight the smile.  _Come on, brain_ , co-operate, he's still upset at Lance for waking him up like that.

Lance nodded.

 “Since when do you get this excited about missions?” Keith couldn't help asking. The picture of Lance grinning from last night came to his head. That had been _too_ big of a grin, and much more genuine than the one Lance had right now.

 “Since we stopped going on them as much?” Lance shrugged, “You're not the only one who doesn't like sitting around.”

 Was that why he'd been so persistant on going on the mission? Keith looked at him from the corner of his eyes. He had his hands in his pocket, that serious look back on his face. It wasn't like his usual focussed or determined one, not even the one he used to get when they used to discuss plans when Keith was black paladin. This was different, there was something ... _wrong_ about it; that frown was too deep, his jaw was too set. Keith didn't like that look on him.

 “Well, at least you're finally going on a mission, I was beginning to think Voltron was retired.”

 The transformation on Lance's face was quick as he turned to look at him, “So you _are_ capable of showing excitement.”

 “Only when you're not barging into my room in the middle of the night.”

“Actually, it was early morning,” Lance answered. He made a small laugh at Keith's deadpan look, “you still grumpy?”

 Keith really hoped his glare was enough of an answer.

  _“Come on,_ you could've gone back to sleep,” Lance nudged his elbow lightly.

 “Lance, I have insomnia, how often do you think I _just_ fall sleep?”

 “Shit, right, I forgot,” Lance’s entire face scrunched up in guilt as he looked at him, “I'm sorry.”

 “It's alright,” Keith said. That apology was too genuine for him to say anything else to.

 He lowered his voice only for Lance to hear, not even sure why. “Lance, the generals, the one I found in the weblum.”

 Lance's eyes turned serious, not the wrong way this time, he nodded.

 “She ... _helped_ me.”

 “Yeah, on the weblum.” Lance spoke just as quiet as he was speaking.

 “No, on Feyiv.” Keith continued as Lance raised an eyebrow at that, “I lost my blade, and she shot my adversary.”

 “Oh?”

 “I think it probably was to repay me for getting her out of the Weblum, but I ... I thought you should know.”

 Lance nodded, “I'll keep that in mind.”

 He sounded unsure of what he should do with the knowledge. Hell, Keith was unsure of what he expected him to do with that. He wasn't even sure what to do with the knowledge himself. It's just something that had been occupying his brain, and somehow it felt like sharing it with Lance would make more sense of it.

 “We should really talk about what happened at Feyiv later, though.”

 Keith looked at him with a questioning eyebrow, “What ... happened there?”

 A crease appeared between Lance’s eyebrows like he had expected Keith to know what he was talking about. He got interrupted before he opened his mouth to answer.

 “What are you two whispering about back there? Share with the rest of the class.” Pidge turned back to look at them.

 Lance stuck his tongue out at her, “Just our mutual distaste for birds.”

 She bickered with him the rest of the way. Keith went to train after breakfast as the three left for the mission.

 It was only then that he realised unlike always Lance hadn't directed the finger guns at Allura. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus let the langst begin!


	29. Chapter 29

 He spent a few hours in the training room. Took a short break at lunch, which he spent eating that amazingly tasted cake, bless Hunk for _that,_ watching Allura tease Coran about Hunk making _his_  family recipe better than him. And then he was back at the training room. Yet, no matter how much he thought about the conversation that morning it didn't make any sense to him.

 By the time he was tired to stop again, it was late afternoon. He might be wanting some more of that cake— _come on_ , once Pidge and Lance returned that cake would be as good as gone—so he made his way to the Kitchen. Though he never arrived there, as he heard Pidge as he was passing the lounge. He entered the room. Pidge was still in her armour, so they must've just returned. She seemed to be in the middle of an argument with Hunk.

 “You're back,” Keith stated. 

 The two seemed to jump before they turned to look at him.

 “Yeah, just now,” Pidge nodded.

 “Where's Lance?” It was only as he asked the words that it occurred to him his first question probably should've been whether the mission was a success, rather than asking about Lance's whereabouts. 

 “Getting yelled at.”

  Hunk sent Pidge a look at her words. One that she responded with half shrugging at him before turning to Keith, “Mission debrief with Shiro,” she cleared. 

 “Oh.” Keith whispered. Guess that answered the mission success question too. “what happened?” he sat down on the couch.

 Pidge did not waste a second to jump into the story, “Remember that gas thingy on Thayserix? It jammed all our communications?” 

 Keith nodded. Of course he _remembered._  That had been his first mission as the black paladin and he ... well, he messed up, _royally._  But they'd managed to turn it around, _fix it_ as Lance had said. He shook his head, paying attention to Pidge.

 “Yeah, as soon as we landed, something like that filled the surface of the entire planet, jammed all the communication,” Pidge frowned, “It was weird though, it liked moved ... I think it was getting controlled,” she looked down, typing something on the panel on her hand before continuing, “Obviously me and Lance said we should go back, but _nooo,_ Shiro was having none of that retreat shit. Just saying _‘turned out we needed blue after all’_  like what's that supposed to mean? Yeah, we could tell that on our own, no need to be salty about it,” she glared at nothing particular.

 Keith frowned more, she might not know, but he knew that comment must've been directed at Lance.

 “Our communicators were barely working _._ But _S_ hiro said we should keep going, of course Lance disagreed,” she shared a look with Hunk, “Shiro ordered us to each take one route, and to stick to it. But then, then we lost contact with him, _entirely_ for like an hour, and we got worried, and Lance went looking for him,” she  shared another look with Hunk, shaking her head, “Anyway, apparently Shiro was in the middle of fighting one of them in their ship but Lance interrupting with his lion had given her the chance to get away. Therefore, the _yelling.”_

 “Oh,” Keith said. None of that sounded like things Shiro would do. And if Pidge looked even a little less pissed, Keith might've considered it a mistake on the retelling the story side. But she seemed truly pissed.

 Keith crossed his arms thinking. His head shot up to look at the hallway at the footsteps closing in.

 “Yeah,” Pidge huffed, “he's kind of have been an utter—”

 “Lance?” Keith interrupted her, as the boy finally walked into sight. He had his helmet in his hand, staring down with his head dipped low, shoulders hunched. He didn't seem to have wanted to enter the lounge, just passing the hall to get to his room, which explained why he stilled a second as Keith called him. There was a smile on his face when he turned their way. He walked in, only far enough to stop at the door frame. Leaning against it, “Oh hey, hey guys.”

 “Hey, buddy,” Hunk smiled. 

 “You look like you just aged ten years,” Keith said. Even with that smile, Lance's eyes looked so tired. 

“You usually look only  _five_ years older after mission debriefs,” Keith added as Lance made no comments on that.

 Lance's shoulders did a small movement as he made a small huff of laugh. He looked up softly at Keith, “Your lame attempts at cheering me up are noted, mullet, and very appreciated. But I'm ... really tired, I think I'll just be in my room.”

 He didn't seem to wait for an answer before making his way out. Keith only had a fraction of a second to see that the smile was no longer on his face when he turned around. But he did hear the sigh the boy made outside.

 “Told you he's getting yelled at.”

 Keith looked back at the words but Pidge seemed to have told it to Hunk.

 “Pidge, we talked about this.”

 “No, you talked and I only listened.” Pidge countered,  “He's been an absolute dick lately, and an extra absolute dick to Lance. Not saying it, doesn't make it less true, Hunk!”

 Hunk sighed. “Pidge, we —” 

 “Who?” Keith interrupted him, asking her. Of vourse he knew _who._ But this was his way of asking for more information. Sure, Shiro had been distant and  ... different, but today had been the first time Keith had seen him act like _that._ But apparently it hadn't been the first time others had seen him act like that and Keith needed the extra data.

 He saw Hunk giving her a look that clearly said _‘Don't’_ but she waved him off dismissively, turning to Keith. If there was one thing you could trust Pidge to do, it was to give you the absolute unadulterated truth with no filter. Even if normally getting a taste of that was pretty annoying, it proved useful times like this. Not that Keith had ever been in a situation like this. He wasn't even sure what this situation was.

  _“Shiro,_ who else?! He's been such a pain in the ass. Specially to Lance, You know how when Shiro was gone Lance kinda ... got a say in things? The co-leading thing you two had going on.”

 That's not how Keith usually referred to it. He usually just considered it he piloting black, and jumping off to every situation too fast, while Lance tried to keep him from blowing the team up to pieces. But he guessed he liked that word better. _Co-leading_. That was what they did. Because yes, maybe Keith had been like that at the start, but eventually Lance had helped him get a hold of things. They had found a dynamic in the end, everytime Keith pushed too hard or fell out of line, Lance was there to call him out on it or to help him back to his feet. Yeah, co-leading was a better name.

 He nodded, a smile tugging on his lips.

“Well, I don't think Shiro's too happy about that, not even a _little_ happy about that,” she huffed, shaking her head, “At this point, I think Lance preferred it when you were leader.” 

 “Actually, as sucky as you were, we probably all do,” she mumbled under her breath.

 Keith stayed silent, digesting the new information.

 Hunk didn't stay quiet though, _“Pidge,”_ he scolded her. 

 _“What?”_ she asked, “It's the truth and you know it.”

 “No, it isn't. It's not that bad,” Hunk told him, before turning to her, “Shiro's just, he has too much to deal with.”

 “Funny, did not make him a dick before,” Pidge looked away, crossing her arms over her chest.

 Hunk frowned at her, “Pidge, he's been captured, not once but twice now. You think that's fun? Of course it's gonna have effects on him. You can't talk about him like that. He's just probably in a tough place,” he sighed when she didn't budge at his words. “You know if Lance was here he would say the same.” 

 That got her to react, “Because he has some sort of weird external hero complex when it comes to Shiro. He probably worships the ground, or fucking space-ship, he walks on,” she threw her hands in the air, “and you're just too sweet to admit it. But I'm this close,” she pressed her index finger to her thumb, “to throwing him an intervention and I'm pretty sure Allura would volunteer to send out the cards.”

 Hunk placed a hand on his face. From the way they reacted, Keith could tell they must've had this conversation a couple times.

 He might've asked for the information, but he wasn't happy with what he'd recieved. He stood up eventually.

 “Yeah, you go tell him he's being an ass.”

He looked to Pidge with raised eyebrows, “I'm, I'm not going to Shiro.” 

 “Yeah, you are.” 

 Keith decided not to answer, he wasn't in the mood to debate with her. Instead, he made his way to the training room. He needed time to think, to make sense of everything he just had learned.

 Shiro was a good leader, he was a good man. Keith knew that. They all knew that and Pidge did have a soft spot for the man. So for her to talk about him like that, Keith knew he must've acted in a way to earn that. He hated that he knew that. He hated even _considering_ it. Shiro, Shiro was like a brother to him. He had looked after Keith for years, took him in when no one else had. Gave him a way, a purpose. Kept him from being lost. He owed Shiro a lot, _a lot_. In fact, till not that long ago he considered Shiro his only family.

 Now, a few others might've been added there, but that would never reduce Shiro's place in his life, _ever._ So, he hated to think anything bad about the man, even for a second, even if all the evidence were against him. It was conflicting because it was a member of that very family who was the one bringing it up. It was even more conflicting, because apparently it had been affecting Lance. And Lance, it was ...  _Lance._ He couldn't just do nothing about that. Shiro wasn't the only one Keith owed a lot.

 But Shiro was a great man. Keith believed that with everything he had, so for him to act like, he knew there must be something wrong. He worried for Shiro himself.

 Keith finished the level.

 _Damn it._ Pidge was once again right. He _was_ going to talk to Shiro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Shiro”_ , Pidge is _so_ done with your shit. If you be mean to her brother one more time, she's going to slay your ass like the queen she is. Or I might just put you back in a box, with a ‘please return to the creator’ note, myself.
> 
> Sorry, I'm still a _bit_ salty about the team not reacting to Shiro yelling like that at Lance in canon. Though we all know there's gonna be _tension_ in the team in s6, so can't wait to be hit with all the feels.
> 
> Stay tuned, my dudes :)


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“The lies we tell other people are nothing to the lies we tell ourselves.”_
> 
>  
> 
> \- Derek Landy  
> 

 He made his way to Shiro's room thinking on what he should say. Well, It wasn't actually Shiro's room, more of a work room—he was such a dad—for him to use instead of being at the bridge all the time. Keith knocked on the door.

 “Shiro?” he called when there was no answer, yet he could hear him in there.

  “Keith, I'm busy.” Shiro's voice came after a few seconds, the door staying closed.

  “I need to talk to you.” Keith stared at the door, “It's important.”

 There was a sigh on the other side, “Alright.” 

 He stepped inside as the door slid open. Shiro was standing next to the panel in the middle of the room. A hand under his chin, analyzing the mess on the screen. He turned as Keith walked to him, a frown sitting on his face like it was it's eternal home.

 “Hey.” 

 Shiro nodded, “Keith, you can see I have a lot to do, so whatever you're going to say, just ...” he gestured with his hand.

 Okay, straight to the point, which Keith still had no idea how to get to. “Is everything alright with you?” was the best he could come up with.

 “That's your important business? _‘Is everything alright with me?’_ ” Shiro's tone was nothing compared to the incredulous look on his face. Before Keith could open his mouth to say anything he continued, “yes, everything's _great_.” he turned back to the panel.

 He must've felt Keith staring at him because he sighed, “Look, Keith, I'm fine. Getting real tired of everyone asking me that though.” he tilted his head back a little to give Keith a look from the corner of his eyes, “Now, if that's all, I need to get back to fixing Lance’s mess.” 

 “Lance’s ... mess?” 

 “You'd think after all this time he'd finally learned to listen but _no,_ apparently he's not even capable of doing that.” 

 _“Shiro,”_ Keith said. Shiro didn't talk about people like that. He might've complained, but not, not like _that._ At least he didn't used to. 

 “What?” Shiro didn't even look up from the screen. “This mission would've been a success if hadn't been for him.” 

 Keith took a step towards him, resisting the urge to say ‘It hadn't been _his_ fault.’ He'd showed up here with all intentions of listening to Shiro, but not when he was acting like that.

 “Shiro, he and Pidge, they were just ... worried about you. ‘ _Always stick together_ ’ that's what you thought us, he was just listening to that.” he reached his hand to place it on Shiro's shoulder to make him look back, but the man turned around nefore he could. 

 He looked at Keith with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest, “So, _that's_ why you're here. To talk about Lance.” 

 “What? _No,_ I just—” 

 “Good, cause I do not have time for that. I've heard enough from Allura already.” Shiro cut in, “For someone who messes up all the time, she seems to take his side a lot,” he shook his head, looking at Keith, “did you _had_ to give him so much authority when I was gone? Now, he thinks he has a say in everything. He's been more than troubling.” 

  If Keith wasn't standing right there, hearing Shiro say that, and seeing his lips move to the words, he would not have believed anyone telling him Shiro said things like that about the team, or more precisely Lance. 

 “ _I_  didn't give him anything, he earned the place on his own. And I've told you that. If not for him this team would not be here right now,” Keith said, a little defensive. He had told Shiro of how much Lance had helped him. Lance had grown so much, he'd done so much for the team. he deserved every bit of the place he had, or apparently _used_ to have when Keith was still here, on Voltron.  if even Keith had been able to see that, how could Shiro not? 

 Shiro's scoff was mocking, and unlike any Keith had ever heard from him, “I find that _very_ hard to believe.” 

 “Don't say that, so Lance can be a little ... _opinionated_ sometimes, that's only because he's considering what's best for the team,” Keith said. Lance challenged him a lot when he had first became the black paladin. But everytime he had criticised Keith about something, it had been for the better of the team, and yeah, everytime Keith had listened to him, they had ended up getting better results. 

  _“Is_ he? Cause to me—” Shiro began questioning but Keith cut in.

 “Yes, he _is._ And you _know_ that,” Keith's eyebrows snapped even more together, “What's going on with you, Shiro? I thought it was just me, but you've been acting ...” he trailed off  just gesturing towards the man and his scowl.

 Shiro didn't say anything, only frowned more so Keith continued, “And what was that his morning? ‘ _This isn't a participation game, we need our best,’_ How could you say that to him?”

 Keith couldn't help bringing that up. Shiro had _no_ right to say that to Lance. Words that Lance had told _him_.Lance had come to _him_ about his insecurities, Lance had opened up to _him_ about something that had been bothering him. The only reason Keith had ever broken his confidence and told Shiro about it was, well, because he'd been worried. He was leaving for the blade, and he'd thought it would be better if someone else knew how Lance was having doubts like that. He'd told Shiro so he would _help_. He'd never thought Shiro would use it like that. Shiro wouldn't do that.

 “If you didn't want me to say anything, then you shouldn't have told me in the first place.” 

 It felt like going against his own nature for him to glare at Shiro like that, and yet he couldn't help it. His insides turned at the thought of how Lance must've felt hearing Shiro use the reason he'd had for thinking he should step out of the team, to tell him he should step out of a mission. His insides also turned at what Lance had thought about Keith at the moment. Had he considered it breaking his trust? “Because I wanted someone to know he was feeling like that, not, not for you to use it against him like that!”  

  “I did not use it against him, I used it in a very well based argument. And if not for his insistence on being there, we would have completed the mission.” 

 Keith took another step forward, “Shiro, can't you just give—” 

  _“Enough,”_  Shiro held up his hand, “If you have so much problem with the way I lead, then you should've never given up the black lion.” 

 Keith wasn't sure which was worse, the words, the icy eyes or the tone that cut. It really did. It was hurtful to hear Shiro talk like _that._ he had never looked at Keith that cold before, and it hurt. They never used to get into arguments before. Keith decided to retreat a little. He hadn't come here to take sides, he might've lost control hearing Shiro talk like that.

 “That's not what I'm saying, Shiro. You're the true black paladin, always. I know you know what you're doing,” he paused, “but just, can't you give Lance a chance?” Keith couldn't believe he had to say that to Shiro. Once upon a time the situation had been reversed, but that once upon a time had been so long ago.

 Shiro's frown was enough of an answer, it did not keep him from giving a real one, “I'm not going to cut him more slack just because of whatever personal relationship you're developing with him.” 

 What was that suppose to mean? And was he serious? “Shiro—” 

 “Alright, You know what? I don't have time for this. I need to get back to planning,” Shiro cut him off. Keith didn't even get to voice his _but._ “I've heard enough, you made yourself clear, now out,” the man gestured towards the door. 

 Once _out_ Keith could only stare at the, once again, closed door in front of him. What happened? Did Shiro just kick him out? What was going on with him?

 Even with all the time he'd spent at the training room that day, his feet once again took him there. There was no way he was feeling with the memory of that cold look without exhausting himself to sleep anyway. He fully intended on staying the next couple hours there. Yet, he only spent a few seconds for as soon as he stepped inside his eyes fell on the small blue towel left in the corner of the room. Lance had forgotten to take it last night.

  _Lance._ He'd looked pretty upset earlier. Keith might not have been able to help remove the cause, but he could at least go to him, right? Lance always was ... _there,_ he could do the same, right?

 With one last look around the training room, he decided he could empty his frustration at the bot another time. He made his way to the kitchen.

 Thankfully, Hunk was still there. Keith had noticed him over-cooking when he was nervous. Guess they all had their own way of dealing with things.

 “Hey.” 

 Hunk jumped up, half dropping the bowl he was stirring in his hand to the floor. He looked up to Keith, “Dude, don't scare me like that.” 

 “Sorry,” Keith held up his hand.

 “It's alright,” Hunk smiled, “so what brings you to my humble kitchen at this late hour?” 

“Is there any of that cake left?” 

 “No ... I mean, yes, but I'm kinda keeping that for Lance.” 

 Keith only managed to gat an _‘oh’_ out before Hunk narrowed his eyes at him, “But that's exactly what you were planning to do with it, isn't it?” 

 Something about Hunk's smile made Keith rub his neck, looking down, “Um, yeah.” 

 Hunk's smile stayed with him as he told Keith where in the Altean equivalent of a fridge, he could find the small piece left. Keith couldn't help the smile as he poured some milk in a cup to take with it. He was almost outside the door with the cup in his hand when Hunk called after him.

“Did you, did you talk to Shiro?” 

 Hunk wasn't a fan of conflict. Yet, the clear hopeful tone of his voice told Keith even if he had disagreed with Pidge earlier, he didn't really think she was too far off. Keith didn't know how to explain what had just happened with Shiro so he decided to go with a simple “No.” 

 

 Once there, Keith knocked on the door, “Lance, you sleep?” he asked even though he could hear Lance breathing inside and knew he wasn't.

 “No.” 

 “Can I come in?”

 This time the answer came with a small delay, “I'm ... I'm pretty sleepy.”

 That was probably the first time ever he'd said no to Keith going in his room. “Can I come in anyway?”

 “I have cake,” he added after a second.

 “Cake?” 

 Keith half smiled at the clear newfound interest in Lance’s voice, “Yeah, Hunk cracked that recipe after all.” 

 It took some time and a small sigh for him to answer, “Okay.” The door opened.

 Lance was lying sideways on his bed, his legs resting up against the wall. He turned his head to look at Keith upside down, “Hey.” 

 “Hey.” 

Lance sat up as Keith walked in. He must've done it too quickly, because he lost balance, holding his hands up to regain it, “Whoa.” 

 “How long have you been sitting like that?”  

 “A couple hours,” Lance shrugged, “Trying to figure out how long it takes my brain to burst from too much blood.” 

  _Right._ Keith sat on the bed placing the plate in front of him. Lance was quick to attack it. He hadn't left his room since they had returned so he must've been pretty hungry. He made _‘mhmm’_  sound as soon he took the first bite. He closed his eyes, “Oh my god, this is ... Hunk is god tier,” he said with a full mouth. Keith couldn't blame him. The cake was really good.

 He opened his eyes, looking at Keith, “So _are you,_ by the way. Why aren't you eating this yourself? I'd probably kill for something like this.” 

 Keith shrugged a shoulder, making him narrow his eyes at him with a smile, “Keith, this is so sweet. This is, this is like  _sharing the last slice of pizza_ level of sweet.” 

 Keith huffed a laugh, shaking his head. He stood up walking around the room. Lance was in a better mood. Keith wasn't sure how to bring things up. _Ugh,_ why were people so hard? Why wasn't there a way to let people know what you were thinking? Or that you were worrying about them?

 _Talking,_ his brain provided. That way would be talking. Unfortunately that wasn't one of Keith's strong suits. Not even close. Usually he ended up making things worse when he attempted at doing that. Case in point what happened less than half an hour ago.

 He stood by the TV, looking at the video games spread around on the floor. That was usually the way Lance took with him when he wanted to distract him.

 He picked up the first game he found, “Hey, you up for a game?”

 Lance's eyebrows shot upwards, _“You_ ... want to play?” 

 At Keith's nod he squinted, “Keith, no offence, but you suck at that or any game we've ever played, like _really_  suck.” 

 Keith ate his glare, sitting on the floor, “I've been practising this,” he looked at the box in his hand reading the name, “Killbot phantasm, on my tablet.” 

 Lance squinted at him even harder. _Alright,_ the hard way it was. Keith smirked, “What, scared I'm gonna kick your ass, and take your title?” Lance was very proud of the fact that he was the best game player at the castle—which was a little bit ridiculous, there were only seven, now eight, people there, and half of them hadn't hold a game controller in their hands in their entire life—loved to throw it at Pidge's face constantly, and he was very protective of the title.

 Lance tilted his head, still staring at him. A small smile took over his face before it turned to something less soft and more grinning, “In your dreams, mullet.” 

Keith hid his smile as Lance took a place next to him. It took a few more  minutes of Keith goading him before he really got into the game. Though Keith might've taken it abit too far, which he ended up regretting it when the level finished. He really _did_ suck at this. Did not mean he was gonna take Lance's shit about it.

 “Ha! Tell me again whose ass were you gonna kick? Was it this guy? Cause he just owned your ass.” 

 Jesus, did he had to sound _that_ smug? Keith crossed his arms over his chest, “You didn't own my ass.”

 Lance pointed to the scores on the screen, his shit-eating grin spreading all over his face, “I'm sorry, do you see your little avatar sulking all the way back in the red area, while mine is shining in the white-green, ya know what that means?”    

 “You did _not_ own my ass,” said at the same time as he said, “I just owned your ass.” 

 “Yeah, I _did._ Suck it, Kogane. I Own you now. You're my bitch, now bow to your queen.”

 Keith snorted, “Wow, not even gonna go with king?”

 “Nope. now, _Bow. To. Your. Queen_. you peasant,” Lance held up his chin in a royal gesture, looking down at him, while holding up his hand in front of Keith to kiss.

 Keith yanked away the hand gently, shaking his head at Lance, “God, you're a sore winner.”

  “Pfft, joke's on you. I'm even more of a sore loser.”

 “Oh, trust me, I _know,”_ Keith said. They'd had more than enough of their share of little competitions with each other for him to know how much of a lousy loser Lance could be. 

 “Yeah, like you're any better.” 

 He ... really wasn't. They shared look, laughing.

 Lance picked up the empty game box, “You know, Pidge hasn't got to adapting this for our tablets yet.” 

 Well, shit. But Lance's tone wasn't accusatory, he was just looking at Keith with a smile.

 “I ...” he bit his lip, deciding to jump in. “Lance, about today's mission—” 

 “I know, I messed up big, _again.”_  

 “Yeah, you ...” Keith paused.

  _Wait_ ...  _what?_

Lance should be complaining right now. He should be talking about how unfair Shiro had reacted. He should be saying how unwise Shiro acted. He should ... he should _not_ be looking down like _that._ He should _not_ be blaming himself. 

 “Lance, _you_ didn't mess up.” 

 Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, I kinda did. They wouldn't have gotten away if not for me.”

 Keoth stared at Lance's drooped shoulders, heard the tone of his voice as the last horrible realization of the day hit him. Was ... was Shiro the reason Lance acted like _that?_ His newfound extra moments of lack of confidence. The way he sometimes seemed to hesitate before making a move in the training room, like he doubted himself and his guts. The extra little frown. Was that because of Shiro?

 There was _no_ way. Sure, Shiro had, well, he'd acted like an ass earlier with the way he'd talked about Lance, but he would never talk like that about him _to_ him, right?

  _Right?_

But it would made sense with what Pidge had said, and Allura, too. Was _Shiro_ the one she was defending Lance to?

 Keith frowned at his thoughts. _No,_  he knew Shiro, and even if he was acting _different,_ he would never actively hurt and ignore others like that. He wouldn't. He _wouldn't._

_Right?_

 “You don't know that. Pidge told me you were just worried.” Even if Lance interrupting had been the reason for the generals to get away, they shouldn't have been in the situation in the first place. They should've worked as a team, like they always did. 

 “Keith, I shouldn't have disobeyed his orders like that. I did the exact opposite of what he told me—”

 _“Who_ are you?” 

 Lance looked up at the interruption, eyes a little wide.

 “‘ _Keith, we gotta stick together,’_ that's what you would've told me if I had suggested something like that. And you would _not_ back down from it,” Keith couldn't help the smile. “I mean I know I was a sucky leader compared to—” 

 “You weren't a sucky leader.” 

 It was Keith's turn to look at him with wide eyes.

 “You weren't a bad leader, Keith,” Lance continued despite Keith's questioning raise of eyebrow, “Yeah, maybe at first you were a reckless headstrong stubborn idiot of a leader,” he huffed a laugh, before his face turning softer, “But you just lost Shiro. You were grieving, we all were. But then you turned it around, you're a good leader,” he looked at Keith softly, and ... proudly, making Keith's chest feel warm.

 “And at least you listened to us.” 

 A horrified look took over Lance’s face, as if scared of his own words, “Not-not that Shiro doesn't. He does, he's a great leader.” for a moment there was clear conflict on Lance's face. It vanished quickly, but Keith had seen the way he looked at war with himself. Pidge's words filled his brain. 

 “He _is_ a great leader, but he makes mistakes too. He's not a ... god, you know.” Keith said. It actually pained him, more than he thought, to admit that.

 “I don't know know, I mean if you're gonna go with a demi-god theory, my money would be definitely on him,” Lance made a laugh.

 Keith ignored Lance's attempt at lightening the mood, “Lance, today wasn't on you—” 

 “Can you not take my side?” 

 Keith stared at Lance at his quiet words, “What?” 

 “Don't take my side in this, Keith,” Lance repeated, looking at his hands.

 Keith wasn't going to. Because there were no _sides_ here. They were a team. They were all on the same side. “There isn't a side,” but even if there were, why would Lance ask him _not_ to be on his? People usually asked others to _be_ on their sides, not the other way. “And why not?” 

 “Just ... just _don't,_ ” Lance said, “Let's just leave it at this was my fault, okay?” 

 Keith's protest was on the tip of his tongue when blue eyes rose to look into his. There was too much going on in them for Keith to figure. An image of a storm, one that he had no idea how to find his way around it. He ended up just nodding.

 A few moments of silence passed between them, then Lance was stretching his hands, smiling at Keith no trace of his frown left in his face. For a second, it terrified Keith; how could he change his emotions that fast? How often did he do that?

 “So, if that's all, mullet, I really was planning on sleeping—” he was getting up, but stopped to look at Keith at the hand wrapped around his.

“That's not ... all.” 

 Lance raised an eyebrow.

 “Do you, do you want a hug?” 

 Lance's eyes rounded more than he thought humanly possible at him, making him feel like he should explain. What was it that Lance said to him?; “You just look like you need one.” 

 Lance's smile was small, “Yeah. Yeah, I want a hug.”

 Keith let Lance come to him, wrapping his hands around him when he did. Blueberry scent filled his lungs. Anyone who thought Lance was bony was an idiot, he was soft and warm, and fit perfectly next to Keith. Keith only wished his heart was beating warm and soft too, but it wasn't. It was beating fast, Keith didn't know how but he knew it wasn't beating fast in a good way and he didn't like it. He placed his hand on Lance's back, patting.

 “Keith, I swear, if you say _‘there, there,’_  I'm gonna flip some shit.” 

 “Wha-I wasn't going to!” Keith protested.

 Lance only made a laugh, his breath tickling Keith. “Yeah, you were, you awkward bean.”  

 “Fine, if It's so bad then—” he was trying to pull back but Lance locked his hands behind him, not letting him.

 “Don't.” 

 So Keith didn't, not because of the word but because of the tone it said ‘ _please don't?_ ’ not telling him but asking him. He must've felt Keith wasn't going anywhere, there was small sigh as he dropped his forehead to Keith's shoulder.

 

 It was a few minutes later, Keith was back in his own room, lying in his bed when Lance spoke again. 

 “Hey, Keith?” 

 “Yeah?” 

 “That's the first time you've ever hugged me.” 

 “No, it isn't.” They had hugged plenty of times. Not that anyone was counting.

 “No, Keith,” Lance said, voice soft, “It's the first time _you've_ ever hugged _me._ ” 

  Oh. Lance was always the one who initiated things like that. “Sorry.” 

 “Don't be sorry,” Lance made a small laugh. “It just feels like we've passed a milestone here.” 

 His heartbeat did a small leap, and Keith could tell it was different to the fast way it had been beating till then, this jump was good.

 Wait, his _heart?_ It was one thing for Keith to hear it when they were hugging and there was practically no space between them. But they were in separate rooms now, why was Keith still listening to his heart? But now that he was, he had no idea how to stop. Apparently everything relating to Lance fell under the category of senses he had no control over. Seriously that Blueberry scent was _still_ in his nose. Why didn't they give galra handbooks on how to control your senses?

 “Keith?” Lance called again.

 “Yeah?” 

 “Thanks.”

 “For what?” he asked.

 “For the cake,” Lance paused a moment before adding, “And for coming over.” 

 Keith didn't say anything. He really hadn't done anything. But there was a smile to Lance's tone, so there was that. He fell sleep to the arrhythmic beats.

 

 Deciding that Shiro might've been feeling reminiscences of the mission and that's why he'd acted that way, Keith went to talk to him next morning. Apparently, Shiro was too _busy_ to talk to him though. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact (It's not actually fun at all, it's just a fact): when you're feeling sad—or stressed, but that one's obvious—your heart races and not the good kind. (Keith was onto something there.) It also makes it beat more arrhythmic, and puts your body in that whole fight or flight situation. So prolonged exposure to sadness (let's say, depression) can actually increase your chance of getting a heart attack, so please, laugh as much as you can, people :)
> 
> Sorry about not posting yesterday, but this chapter _is_ longer than usual, so hopefully I'm redeemed?
> 
> Also, I can't believe someone named an actual star after Klance, like even ironically, that's so extra (but also so cool?) The things this fandom does :)
> 
> One last thing, I heard the trailer for s6 is gonba be up in a few hours, so I wanna make this clear; this is a spoiler-FREE zone, people. I'm one of those weirdos who don't watch the trailers and embargo all social media till the actual show comes out. No spoilers in the comments, please guys. 
> 
> And this goes without saying, but this fic will not be following whatever happens in s6. I have this planned in my head to the last chapter, so yeah that's not gonna be happening, sorry ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> And have a good night (Day?) :)


	31. Chapter 31

“Stop moving around so much.”

 Keith called. He shook his head as Lance failed the level for the god knows how many th times that day. The thing was Lance had done this level so many times before, he should be able to finish it with his eyes closed, he probably was. But for some reason he couldn't stop jumping all over the place, and okay that was normal Lance usually moved around a lot, probably more than necessary, when he fought. But today he looked like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin.

 “End training sequence,” He ordered the castle when the bot pinned Lance down with it's staff to his neck.

 “Oh, come on!” Lance complained at no one particular as the training bot dematerialized.  
Keith offered him a hand to get up. This had been going on for a while now so Keith decided to notion it, “What's up with you, today? why are you so ... jumpy?”

 “I'm not jumpy. _You're_ jumpy.” Lance answered with a pout, rubbing on a part of his shoulder where the bot had managed to land a blow. At Keith's look at him, he sighed. “I'm not jumpy. I'm nervous, Keith.”

  _Nervous?_ “Why?”

 “Allura said she's coming over today.”

 That really didn't explain anything. Keith raised an eyebrow at him.

 “She sometimes checks up on me with training and stuff,” he gestured around, “and she hasn't since we, you know, changed my fighting style. I don't know she's gonna think it's better or worse.”

 “It's better.”

 “Yeah, but I don't know what _she's_ gonna think,” Lance ran his fingers through his hair.

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest. Did it really matter that much to him what Allura thought that he'd been acting all ... nervous this morning? Keith hated the small part in his brain that immediately answered ‘of course’. It left a bitter taste in his mouth and he couldn't help the frown, “You're faster, you can defend better, you can see it in your scores,” he gestured to the panel, “why does it matter what she thinks?” that _she_ came out more vigour than he meant to, he really had nothing against Allura.

 “It's not, I ...” Lance frowned, looking at him, “It matters to _her.”_

 He activated the red bayard in his hand. No matter how many times he'd seen that, Keith still did a small gasp every time. He rotated the sword in his hand.

 “I told you, it's an Altean sword. She said it looks just like her father. Her _dad,_ Keith, and he's ... dead. It's, it's important to her,” Lance glanced down at the sword in his hands, “It's really important to her. Guess I just don't wanna disappoint.”

 Oh. So it wasn't about impressing her.

 “You're not.”

 Lance looked at him with an arched eyebrow, “Since when are you nice, mullet? I miss your old _be as mean as possible to Lance_ days.” He joked.

 Keith passed on reminding him that _he'd_ been the one who started it in the beginning, in favour of telling him, “I mean it, Lance. You're _not_ going to disappoint her.”

 Even if she would be disappointed—which anyone would be blind to be considering how much Lance had improved. Really, Keith was regretting not making him train close combat sooner. He would ne some sort of prodigy now if he had. But then again he only was getting so much better so quickly, because he was putting so much work into it. Keith still got surprised by the amount of determination he shpwed in this. He was an idiot to ever think Lance didn't try hard enough, apparently all it took was for him to want something and then he poured all his heart and soul to it—but even in the highly unlikely event that she _was,_ over Keith's dead body would she tell that to Lance.

 “Yeah, yeah. I mean obviously not cause I'm awesome, but,” his smile turned softer at Keith, _“yeah.”_

 Keith broke the eye contact as he heard the footsteps closing in. The training room was sound proof, _thank god_ , so Keith couldn't hear too much from outside. Well, he could if he wanted to but he rarely ever did. He had more control over heightening the senses, which he never willingly would, than lowering them.

 “She's here.”

 Just as he said the door slid open, Allura walking in. She was looking back, more precisely down, as she walked, “I'm sorry, I told you I can't today, maybe tomorrow?”

 Before either of them had time to question her sanity they say the mice followng her in on the floor.

 “Hey, what's up?” Lance asked.

 She nodded at them, “I promised to give them a bath two days ago, still haven't gotten around to it.” She looked down guilty. From what Keith had seen she spent all most all her time working on quintessence and crystals with Lotor's help, so that was understandable.

 “Well, don't worry about it. I can give them one later,” Lance didn't hesitate to offer his help, as always. He bent down letting two of the mice, the pink one and the yellow one to his hand, holding it in front of him, “besides they love me. Isn't that right, you guys? And in return you can tell me all the hot news on everyone.” The pink one nodded, moving to press its cheek against Lance’s. Lance made a small laugh at the contact, closing his eyes as the other one did the same. Oh no, He looked too soft.

 Keith hadn't even been aware he'd made any noise, but apparently Lance took whatever sound he'd made as a laugh.

 “Watcha laughing about, mullet? These guys have ... _ratted_ you out more than one time.” Lance looked at him with an expression too proud of himself for saying that. Keith shook his head earning a laugh.

 “Thanks, Lance. I appreciate it,” Allura smiled at the other boy.

 Lance let the mice back on the floor. “Anytime, princess.”

 “Now, I believe you're here for a show. And a true gentleman such as myself would never keep a beautiful lady like you waiting, so,” he gestured to the side, while winking. It earned him not only one but two sets of eye-rolls.

 Keith and Allura walked off the deck to stand in the corner, while Lance set in the training instructions on the panel. He turned around looking at them, “You sure you're ready to handle this much amazingness?” he gestured to himself.

 If anyone told Keith this was the same guy who was having doubts no longer than five minutes ago, Keith would tell them to admit themselves to a asylem as soon as possible. That smirk was _way_ too smug.

 Allura made a small snort, “You, literally, say that every time, Lance, and yet I'm still waiting for that show, and I'm still very not amazed.”

 “Come on, you were at least a _little_ amazed last time. And trust me, this time it's gonna blow you're mind.”

 Lance had said pretty confident, but Keith saw the little bit of hesitation in his eyes as they settled on him. Keith gave a small nod and a small smile. It might've gotten bigger when he saw Lance’s smile at that.

 “We'll see.”

 Oh, she asked for it.

 And Lance freaking _delivered._ A mask of seriousness covered his face as the gladiator materialized. Yet, there was a smirk on his lips as he began fighting. No traces of the way he'd been acting earlier there. Keith, not for the first time, found himself incapable of doing anything but watch him in awe as he moved around. Lance made a small huff of laughter as he dodged the blow from the bot. He'd started to look as if he was having fun while training a while ago. Just another reason for Keith not to look away.

 “This is very ... new.”

 It was Allura's voice that finally made him glance away. She had a hand under her chin, looking at Lance with analytical eyes.

 “There's no actual technique.”

 Well, she wasn't exactly wrong. It had taken a lot of Lance resisting it, for Keith to finally make him fight by his own moves, and he still had a long way to go. But now that he did, the way he fought was incredible. As in literally incredible, because it made no sense. His movements were fluid, but inconsistent, not in a bad way though. In a way that an ocean tangled in a storm moved. He made crazy choices that Keith probably would never do in the same situations. Simultaneous moves that confused anyone to where ge was going to be next. Honestly, Keith wasn't sure even he himself knew that. He really seemed to have taken the go with the flow thing to the heart. And Keith felt a little, a lot, bit of pride everytime he saw him like that.

 “But he seems to make it work.”

 Keith looked at her, but he really couldn't read into what she was thinking. That frown was too big and it worried Keith. “He was really worried about what you're gonna say.”

 She must've felt he wanted to say more; she raised an eyebrow at him. Keith wasn't sure how to word it, so he just decided to go for it, “Don't say something that'll discourage him.” he really hadn't meant for his voice to be so threatening.

 Allura scoffed, looking at him like he'd insulted her very cores, “Excuse me? I would _never._ Unlike _some_ people who hasn't even been here for more than movements, I've been here since the first day he got that sword,” she glared at him before looking at Lance and smiling. Her tone wasn'tdefensive when she spoke again, but rather reassuring. “I know how much he's worked to get here. I would never tell him something like that.” 

 “And try not to sound _too_ jealous, Keith.” 

 What? Keith turned to glare at her at the sound of her snort only to be distracted by the squeaking. He looked to the source; the mice sitting on her shoulders. The fucking mice were laughing at him.

 Keith decided that he wasn't going to answer that. And he decided that he didn't hear her laugh as he crossed his arms, looking away. He also decided that he didn't notice her smirk stayed with her till Lance finished off the training level.

 “Was I awesome or was I awesome?” Lance walked to them. His voice changed as he looked at Allura, “So, um?” 

 “It's different.” 

 “Well, yeah,” Lance made a nervous laugh, eyes going to him. Keith smiled at him, resisting the urge to glare at her. Well, untill she spoke.

 “I like it. It's more you,” she smiled, placing a hand on Lance's back, giving it a pat, “great job, Lance. I'm proud of you. I think I finally _am_ amazed.”  

 Lance was quick to perk up. He looked at Keith, “You heard that right? She said it.” 

 “Don't make me regret it.” 

 “Uh, _too_ late. You said it, I'm amazing,” Lance lifted his chin, popping his chest out, “And thus he was named Sir Lancelot, the most awesome of the knights.” 

 Keith couldn't help laughing at the ridiculous blue still on his face. 

 “And I'm already regretting it.” Allura said, even though she was laughing.

 “But seriously thanks,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, before looking up and looking at Keith. He wrapped a hand around Keith's shoulder, “I owe it all to this guy, though.” 

 Keith's smile was disrupted by him noticing that annoying smirk was back on Allura.

 “Oh?” 

 What was that tone?

“Yeah, he's the best teacher _ever._ He's definitely on to something with his _I'm not gonna tell you what to do_  thing. if all my teachers went with that I probably would be a genius by now.” 

 Keith raised an eyebrow, “Or you probably wouldn't know a single thing.” 

 Lance made a face at him, but still didn't let go of his shoulder. He looked back to Allura, but the words were for him, “No, but he _is._ I'm definitely voting him the best _teach_ of the year. Definitely puts up with a lot of whining all the time he's here with me.” 

 “Oh, yes, I've heard _enough_ from Pidge about _all_ the time you spent here ...  _training,”_  she wiggled her eyebrows, _“_ together with your swords.” 

 Lance's shriek of her name was loud enough to ring in Keith's ear for the next few minutes. He actually kicked the laughing Allura out the room. 

 He shook his head as he walked back, “That's it, Pidge is officially banned from spending any time with any person on this castle ever again,  _ever_. Clearly, she's a bad influence.” 

 Keith shrugged, not knowing what to comment.

 Lance smiled at him, “I mean it though, thanks for helping, Keith.” 

 Keith nodded at him. Though, he didn't thank him back for helping him with his shooting, which really had not been easy on Lance's part, Keith was aware. Instead he wanted to say something else. Allura had said it, and he really wanted to too. He looked down, “Lance?” 

 “Yeah?” 

 “I'm,” Keith took a breath in, “I'm proud of you, too.” 

 “Okay, either Coran's trying out hallucinators in the goo or someone _should_ really write today down in history, there's too much Lance appreciation going around here,” Lance laughed. Yet when Keith looked up, his face was gentle, looking at Keith with the softest of smiles, “Thanks, mullet.”  

 Keith nodded. He pointed to the deck, “Do you ...?” 

 “Nah, I think I'm done for now. You go ahead.” 

 Lance went to sit down in the corner of the room. They both did that sometimes; staying there, even when they weren't training together. Just sitting there, watching the other train, make a comment or two. 

 Keith made his way to the armory, picking up one of the swords. 

 “Still not using your own blade?” 

 Keith felt his eyes going a little wide at the question. Lance knew?

 Keith hadn't used his Marmoran blade in a while now. More precisely since someone had showed up. Something that had never been separated from him, even for a day in his life, now lay useless in the drawer next to his bed. It just didn't feel _his_ any more. Why Kolivan couldn't just had given him his own blade when he'd joined? Even if his relationship with Krolia had somewhat, a lot compared to where they had been at first, improved, he still couldn't bring himself to use it. So, no he wasn't using the blade.

 But Lance had noticed that? Keith really shouldn't be that surprised after all this time; even if he didn't show it, Lance noticed everything.

“No.” he turned around to look at Lance when the other boy just hummed in answer. “Aren't you gonna ask me why?” 

 Lance shook his head, “No, I can guess why. Can I just say something though?” 

 He went on as Keith nodded, “It's not her blade any more, it's yours. It's something you've held onto through better and worse, I mean you got yourself half killed just not to give it up,” he shook his head, smiling, “it's important to you. Don't put it away just because it was once Krolia's. It doesn't matter where or who it came from, it belongs to _you._ And is it really bad to think your mother wanted you to have something of her with you?”

 Keith stared at him, seriously considering if he had some sorts of mind reading powers.

 “I-I guess not.” he said after some time.

 “Yeah, something to think about.”

 “Plus, and this is just my opinion, but you look _way_ more badass with it than with that stupid thing,” he pointed to the sword in Keith's hand.

 If Keith started the training with a-little-warmer-than-usual face, it had nothing to do with the way Lance had leaned back on his hands, looking up at Keith  when he'd said that. And if he began using the blade again in a week, it still had nothing to do with the mischievous look in those blue eyes, or the tone of his voice. Absolutely _nothing._

 _Yeah,_ like he believed that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opens up Tumblr for half a second, sees _that_ screenshot of Lance and Keith, closes Tumblr, proceeds to vanish to oblivion. 
> 
> Like for fuck's sake (please forgive the cussing, I have too much emotions at the moment) I accidentally opened the app, why you gotta hit me with the feels like that Tumblr?
> 
> Anyway, the drama was getting too much so we're gonna have a few lighter mood (fluff :)) chapters.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for 400 kudos :)  
>  And thanks to everyone who comments, thanks for making my day :)

 When Lance didn't show up to the training room after lunch, Keith went looking for him. Granted they had been there all morning till Allura showed up and didn't have a joined session planned for the evening either, but that hadn't stopped Lance from joining him before. Keith was a little curious to what had kept him. And apparently now even training was boring without Lance around.

 “Lance?” He knocked on the door. There was a splashing sound in the room.

 “Hey, come in.” 

 The door was as quick to open as Lance's answer had came. Though the room was empty when Keith stepped inside. “Where—” 

 The answer came before  he even managed to get the question out.

 “I'm in the shower.” 

 Well, that explained the water sound. Keith finally noticed the door to the bathroom was slightly open. They all had their own bathrooms in their rooms. Which bless the gigantic castle for that, Keith couldn't even imagine having to share a bathroom with seven more people. It would make the mornings so much more horrible. Well, actually He could imagine it, because he _had,_ back when he was younger, very younger. But those days had passed long ago. The blade had community showers too, but Keith usually used the the facility very late at nights, or very early at mornings so that no one else would be there. So it was another thing being back at the castle offered, having some peaceful showers. Keith had never thought he would miss something like that. Guess you never truly appreciate something till you use it. Though, the amenities was the least of the things, people, being at the castle offered. And Keith really didn't want to imagine losing any of those.

 “Oh, I can come back later.” 

  Keith was already walking to the door when Lance called.

 “No, no, it's okay. Come on in.” 

 Uh ... what? Why was he asking Keith to the shower? 

 “Get in here.”

 Lance called again. Keith just shrugged and walked to the bathroom door instead. He pushed it, stepping inside.

 Lance was sitting on the floor, fully clothed, next to the bathtub. It was almost fully filled with water, a layer of foam covering it. The four mice scattered around it like it was their dream pool, which it probably was. 

 Right, Lance had said he'd give them a bath. He looked up with a smile as Keith leaned to the door.

 “Hey.” Lance placed his hand on the empty spot next to him, patting for Keith to go sit.

 “No, I think I'm good here.” To be honest, he wasn't sure he trusted those mice enough to go closer to them in case one of them decided they wanted to play around the water. That blue one was certainly looking at him like he planned to.

  _“Keith,”_   Lance drawled looking at the ceiling. “stop being a buzzkill. Your grumpy cat mood is killing my peeps' good vibes.” 

 The blue one had now crawled up to the edge of the tub, crossing its arms over its chest. It nodded his head to Lance’s words. See, that was freaky. Keith wasn't sure why no one else found those mice weird but he did. Cute, _sure,_ but definitely weird too.

 Keith ignored the fact that Lance just called the mice his _peeps_  to half glare at him, “Don't call me that.” 

 “What? Oh, you mean grumpy cat? _”_  Lance’sgrin was _too_ wide. He patted next to him again, “Come sit, and I might consider not calling you it.” 

 The mice cheered as Keith stepped forward with a a little over the top sigh. He settled next to Lance, “Happy?” 

 “Yeah, but I lied. I'm not considering it, your ass is too grumpy for me not to acknowledge it.” 

 Keith rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile. Like he hadn't known that.

 Keith looked at aomething that looked like a green version of a rubber duck, and the small boards floating on the water. Lance must've felt his stare, “I'm teaching them how to swim.” 

 Keith averted his stare to Lance, “Teach ... the _mice?”_  

 “Telepathic genius mice,” he corrected, “and yeah, I mean if Pidge can teach them to steal tech from the castle for her, I can teach them how to swim.”

 Keith watched in amazement as the green one finished a lap around the tub. Lance held his fist for it to bump, “Yeah, you go, girl!” 

 He turned to Keith, “Besides, if I can teach Lee how to do it, I can teach anyone.” 

 Lance had a big family. Even with all the times he spent describing them to Keith, most of the time Keith messed up who was who. Lance was the youngest child in his family, with three siblings but he had like a ton of cousins and aunts and uncles, and Keith had trouble remembering all of them. He really tried to though, because everytime he did remember a detail and mentioned it to Lance, the boy's eyes shined with happiness. 

 The concept of having such a large family, even if  not jest immediate ones, was a very foreign concept to him. The number of his family had never passed mpre than two back on earth. His dad and then Shiro. Now, he had more. And okay, maybe it still was foreign to him but he didn't consider it a bad thing. Quite the opposite. The idea to have that one day was frightening but also enticing.

 “That's your nephew, right?” 

 A big smile covered Lance’s face as he nodded, “Yeah,” oh, and here came the shine in his eyes. “The youngest. Dude, he sunk in water like a heavy rock. I spent two entire summers trying to teach him.” he laughed softly, his shoulders dropping a little. This part was one of Keith's less favourite part; when the happy shine turned into a sad one, when the homesickness became clear in his face. 

 He saw the yellow mouse swimming closer to the edge, it must've felt Lance's distress; it began splashing water towards him. It was only a few drops of water, but it made Lance make a small laugh. Keith decided that that one was his favourite mouse from now on.

 “No, no, bad mouse,” Lance scolded it half heartedly. He picked some of the foam, putting it on the yellow one's head in return. Keith was about to ask him what he was doing when he picked some of the foam, but then Lance put it on his face as a mustache. He looked at Keith curling the bubble mustache, “Ooh, I'm Coran. I'm so fabulous, blah blah blah, I used to wear a cape like that's somehow fashionably acceptable. look at my beautiful mustache.”

 Keith couldn't help his snort, not really at the words but at Lance's exact mimick of the man's voice and accent.

 Lance wiped the foam, placing a bit over his nose this time, like Shiro. He lifted his chin, “I have too much muscle mass, and too many kids for a single dad to function. Lance, watch your language, Hunk stop panicking, Keith stop running into places. Pidge, you're doing great, sweetie, you're my favourite. Now Form Voltron.” 

 Keith really tried not to laugh at his ridiculous tone, he really did, but even if Shiro was a sore subject right now, Lance's facial impression of him were too on point. Thoigh he really missed Shiro the way Lance was describing him.

 Lance as if encouraged by his laughter put some more foam to his face under his chin, making it a beard, “When I was a young man—” 

 “You were an idiot?” Keith supplied.

 Lance stroke his bubbly beard, “Kids, these days, with their talking backs and their no respect for the elderly.” he shook his head towards the mice, they nodded in agreement.

  Lance had a soft smile on his face, watching Keith laugh from the corner of his eyes, as he wiped the beard off. Sometimes Keith wondered how he hadn't noticed earlier how much Lance tried to make others laugh.

 “Is that ... conditioner?” Keith questioned, watching Lance pour half a bottle of it to the water.

“Yeah.” 

 At Keith's eyebrow raise he added, “What? These guys deserve to have soft fur too.” 

Keith just shook his head.

 “Is all that really necessary?” they all had separate bathtubs and showers in the bathrooms. Keith rarely ever used the bathtub because a shower was simply faster, but Lance on the other hand, he must use it a lot. The entire side of the tub was filled with different shampoos and bottles which Keith was pointing to.

 “Yes,” Lance said, “not all of us can be heathens, Keith. Besides you think this smooth silky skin just happens?” he gestured to his face.

“But all of them?” Keith still questioned, there were a lot of bottles there, okay? He turned around to sink, and there were at least a dozen more there.

 “Okay, so I _might_ not know more than half of them are, but the others I do use.” 

 Keith was about to snort when he felt Lance's hand closing to his neck from behind, “What are you ...” he paused as he turned back to see Lance was pulling the collar of his shirt with one hand, a handful of foam in the other. Damn it, Keith would've suspected it wouldn't be the mice but Lance who'd try that.

 He made eye contact with him, “Lance,  _no.”_  

 “Lance,  _yes.”_  

 Lance's grin was the most infuriating thing Keith had ever seen as he let all the foam fall in Keith's shirt. _Ugh,_ Keith jumped up at the soaky feeling of the foam. _“Lance!”_  

 Lance had already stood up, ready to run.

 “You're dead,” some part of his brain sent an alarm that they really shouldn't be chasing each other in such a tiny room, he ignored it. The grin on Lance's face was too shit-eating for him to let it pass.

 “No, bad Keithy.” 

 Oh, no he _didn't._  

 “You are _dead,_ Lance.” 

Unfortunately _,_ just as Keith finally managed to grab a hold of his waist, something grab a hole of _his_ leg. Keith only had a fraction of a second to realise it was one of the mice trying to stop him before he was falling. 

 “Ow!” 

 Alright, so he should've listened to his brain. He used the edge of the tub to gain his balance, while rubbing on his forehead that had been hit by the said bathtub not a second ago.

 “Shit, Keith, you okay?” 

 Lance's voice had equal amounts of amusement and worry in it. Keith let him sit down next to him. Before attacking him with water.

 Lance didn't try to defend himself even after he got over the initial shock. He just sat there laughing as Keith practically splashed half of the water out of the bath next to them and to his face. 

 “Alright, alright, I surrender,” Lance held up his hands when he was almost completely soaked in foam and water, “Guess I deserved that one.” 

 “Yeah, you did,” Keith wished he could say hus voice came out upset, it didn't. It was fond and he couldn't help it. Lance was laughing in front of him, and you'd think after seeing Lance laugh more than a billion times that would look normal to him. It didn't. His laugh at the moment just so genuine and care free. The way his head was thrown back, the way his shoulder shook with each chuckle, the warm sound of his laugh, it was impossible for Keith not to Laugh with him. 

 His laugh died out slowly, in the end just looking at Keith with a soft smile.

 Keith helped him dry the mice with a blow dryer, stopped him from giving them _hairstyles._

“You guys good?” Lance asked the mice while they were done. They gave him thumbs up before running out of the room. “Alright, now let's take care of you.” 

 “Take care of me?” 

 Keith questioned, though he let Lance pull him back to the bedroom by his arm. He made them both sit on the bed, turning to bring a small box out of the nightstand next to, settling it on the bed.

 Keith laughed as he saw the contents of it, “Seriously?” the box was filled with a bunch of cartoon designed band aids. Keith didn't even question where Lance had gotten those. Everytime they made a trip to any sort of mall or space shopping places, Lance's immediate first destination would be the earth shop, he bought as many things as he could in their budget.

 “No reason self care can't be stylish,” Lance said. “Not that you know anything about either of those.” he mumbled under his breath.

 “Lance, there's really no need.” the aching on his forehead was almost non-existent. Besides, he'd deal with much worse.

 “I say there is,” Lance said picking two pink ones.

 Keith glared at him as he saw the design; it was a white cat. He remembered it was an ancient cartoon back on earth. But did it have to be a _cat?_  

 “Oh, come on, I feel bad. You fell because of me.” 

 He squinted at Lance at the innocent look he gave. He was sure at least half of the reason Lance was doing to this was to put those ridiculous things on him, but it was because he could see the honsety behind the other half that Keith let him.

 “Alright, now let's get an actual look. We gotta get rid of all the hair, man,” Lance turned around looking inside the nightstand drawer again. He looked around a little before finding whatever he was looking for.

 Keith recognised the head band, he'd made Keith wear it the few times he'd made him put on one of those face masks. So secretly Keith didn't totally hate those; they made his skin fell cold and fresh. But he wasn't telling anyone that. 

 Deciding there was no point in resistance, he took the head band out of Lance's hand wearing it.

“What?” he asked when he noticed Lance staring at him with too rounded eyes.

“Not-nothing,” Lance busied himself with opening the band-aids. Where his ears getting redder?

 He placed the two band-aids above Keith's forehead in a cross. Rubbing on them, “There, took care of your boo-boo.” 

 Keith didn't even had time to sent him a glare before he smirked even further, “Want me to kiss it better too?” he winked. 

 Keith made a face at him, yanking his hand away, not ungently, “Jackass.” 

 He laughed with Lance, yet wondering what Lance's reaction would be if he gave an honest answer to that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my updating schedule has officially gone to hell. Well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> I don't know why but I don't like how this chapter turned out.


	33. Chapter 33

 They decided on joining the others in the lounge, yet Keith didn't even make it to the door before Lance callled him.

 “Wait.”

 He was in the process of turning around to see what Lance wanted to say when something came flying at him. Keith caught it instinctively, giving lance a glare before looking down to see what it was. He unfolded the clothing, holding it up. A shirt?

 “What's this for?” 

 “Making sure you don't catch a cold. You're shirt is still dripping foam to my floor,” Lance pointed to him. 

 “So is yours,” Keith pointed out. The small damp part on the back of his shirt was nothing to Lance's. Keith might've gone a little bit overboard in his retaliation; not only Lance’s entire shirt was soaked, his jeans were too. Even his hair was still wet sticking to his forehead. Keith had the urge to ruffle it.

 “Yeah, I'm planning to change as soon as _somebody_ leaves,” Lance raised an eyebrow gesturing to the door.

 “Oh,” Keith walked out to the sound of Lance's laugh. He went to his room, taking off his shirt and putting it to the side to dry.

 He _could_ wear the marmoran suit if he wanted, but it wasn't really comfortable enough to just wear around the castle. Not that it was uncomfortable, but since he usually wore it when he was on a mission he was a little on edge wearing it, like when he used to wear the red armour. It felt like asking for an attack to happen.

 He also had the red robes and pyjamas in the closet, they all had, but he was not wearing _that._ And yeah, maybe he wanted to wear that shirt, and Lance had offered it, and why was he getting defensive to his brain? He could wear whatever he wanted to, _fuck off brain._

 He regretted his entire existence as soon as he put the simple blue t-shirt on though. His entire respiratory system went on fire at the blueberry and cinnamon scent. Oh, _come on,_ blueberry, he always had liked. He did not like cinnamon at all, why was it affecting him like that? He clutched on his chest trying to breathe. He really should take that shirt off right now. He _should,_ but he really didn't want to, even with the way his lung burnt with each inhale. He wrapped his hand around himself. What could he say? He'd always liked fire. And this one? He would let it burn his insides out.

 He was so screwed.

 “Dude, what's taking you so long?” 

 “Coming,” Keith answered, the door opening after his voice.

 Lance was standing outside. “Mullet, putting on a shirt does _not_ take ...” he trailed off as his eyes settled on Keith. His eyes going a little rounder as he stared at Keith with an open mouth. Well, for a few seconds, then he burst into laughter.

 “Oh my god, you look _so_ tiny.” 

 “Shut up. No, I don't.” 

 Lance bent down a little laughing, “Yeah, you really  _do.”_ He gestured toward the small wall-length mirror in the corner of the room. Keith walked a little closer, looking in. 

  _What the hell?_

 Lance was barely an inch taller than him, and yeah, maybe his shoulders were broader but not that much. The stupid shirt came one third down way to his thighs, the shoulders loose, making Keith look, as Lance annoyingly put it, _tiny._

 “I'm not wearing this.” He told Lance pointing to his reflection in the mirror.

 “Yes, you are,” Lance walked in the room, “And I'm gonna take pictures.” 

 “What?” Lance shrugged at Keith's glare at him. “You look cuddly. I just made _Keith-I-have-not-stopped-pouting-a-day-in-my-life-Kogane_ look _cuddly._ This needs to be documented. I deserve an award for this.” 

  _Cuddly?_ Keith turned to look at his image in the mirror again. Lance wasn't exactly wrong. Yeah, no, _not_ happening. “I'm taking this off.” 

 “Come on, it's not that bad. And if anyone says anything, you'll have a secret weapon.” 

 Keith sent him a questioning glance. He instinctively leaned back when Lance stepped forward. Lance just gave him a rise of eyebrow, continuing to reach with his hand. He pulled the small chest pocket down. Keith snorted at the picture of a cat holding it's middle fingers up. 

 Lance gestured with his head for them to start walking, “Yeah, I use it on Pidge _all_ the time. Bonus point: what Shiro doesn't know, Shiro can't ground me for.” 

 Keith shook his head following, “Stop it with the cat thing, though.” he might've glared a little. 

 “Why? What's wrong with cats? I like cats.” Lance grinned at him, “And you gotta admit galra do look like purple space cats.” 

 Keith's look at him must've been too incredulous.  
“Come on, they do. I mean those ears,” he made a form of ears next to his head.

 “Yeah, I'm happy living without them.” 

 Lance turned to look at him, a bare frown in his eyebrows that vanished quickly. “You sure? They do kinda look ... cute.”

 “Cute?”   
Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, um, yeah? What, you don't think so?” 

 “No.” Keith answered without hesitation. If he had to go with something he would go with, “Maybe scary.” Unhuman.

 “It's not scary, Keith,” Lance's voice was very sure, and very soft. His eyes were looking soft enough that Keith wondered if he knew how much it worried Keith even without him saying anything. Probably.

 And even if Lance said that, Keith was sure more than half of the universe disagreed. The marmoran suit alone made people treat him differently, they looked afraid, untrusting of him. He couldn't imagine how much worse they would react if he completely looked galra. He didn't have to imagine though, he'd seen how people treated the other blade members, even the ones who'd just saved their lives.

 “It's _not,”_ Lance repeated.

 He smiled, “Okay, now I'm definitely going with they're cute. I mean I've thought about patting Kolivan's once or twice, they look so _fluffy.”_

  _“No.”_

 Keith's voice came out louder than he meant to. He wasn't sure why, but something felt fundamentally wrong with Lance doing that to Kolivan.

 Lance held up his hands, huffing a laugh, “I'm not going to, Keith. I _have_ manners and I like keeping my hands.” 

 They arrived at the lounge then. Pidge didn't even look up. Allura acknowledged them with a simple nod, returning her attention back to the communicator in her hands. Hunk, though, he said a ‘hey’ to them, looking back to Pidge's laptop. But then his head snapped up, eyes staying on Keith. 

“Uh, what happened to your head?” 

 His ... head?

 Right, the stupid band-aids were still there. Instead of taking them off, he pulled the head-band off; his hair falling back to his head, covering them. He wasn't sure what Lance's disappointed ‘Aw’ as he sat down was about.

 “Courtesy of Lance, hit my head to the bathtub chasing him.”

 Lance answered his glare with an innocent look, and a half shrug, slumping next to him to the couch.

  _“Oh.”_

 Something about Hunk's tone made him break eye contact with Lance to look at him. 

 “Oh ... _oh,”_ Hunk's eyes were rounding to the size of footballs. “Oh my god, I knew that's _your_ shirt,” He finally said, looking to Lance. “Uh, mazel tov?” 

 His words made Allura look up at Keith too, a smirk taking over her face as soon as she did. Keith frowned.

 Next to him, Lance dropped his face to his hands with a groan, _“Really,_ Hunk? You too? _It's not_ _that.”_

 Why were his ears getting red? And his neck?

 It was Pidge's comment that cleared things for Keith before he could ask. 

 “Kinky,” she said not even looking up from the laptop.

 ...?! 

  _Wait._

 He looked down at the shirt, and to what he'd just said, and what it must look like. He sat up straight.

_Oh, no._

_“No,”_ he shook his hands, “No. No, no, no, no, _no. Nooo._  Just no, _no—”_

 It was Lance who stopped him, “Okay, Keith. I think they get it.” 

 Keith flumped back to the couch crossing his arms, feeling his face warm up even more at the sounds of several laughs. What was up with these people? And Why was it always him and Lance who ended up in ... _these_ situations?

 Since Pidge's comments were usually the one who created the situations, or made them worse, he decided he was blaming it on her. 

 “Pidge?” 

 “Yeah?” 

 He waited for her to look up before pulling the pocket down. Next to him, Lance snorted. 

 “Excellent use, mullet,” he said, “goes for you two too, by the way.” He pointed to the other two present, before grinning back at Keith, holding a fist for him to bump. Winking when Keith did.

 It was Lance who threw a cushion at Pidge at her next comment, “God, could you be _more_ together?”

 Meanwhile Keith sent one flying at Allura at hers, “You still have _not_ explained the shirt.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters are getting _way_ more gayer in the rewrite than the original drafts. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> I know, extra short chapter. I'm posting the next as soon as I'm done with the editing, though :)


	34. Chapter 34

 It was around an around an hour later, each were busying themselves with something, the room too quiet, when Lance spoke up.

 “I'm _so_ bored,” he dropped his head to the backrest, turning off the tablet in his hand. “You think we can get another sentry here? I miss Jim.” 

 “Dude, we went over this. Stop calling him that, you're making him sound less coo.” Hunk told him.

 Lance gasped, “Impossible, nothing can make Jim less cool. He was the best bro a paladude could ever ask for.” 

 What were they talking about? “Who's Jim?” Keith questioned.

 “Just this sentry at galra headquarters. Me and Pidge reprogrammed it to have fun.” Hunk answered.

 How could you reprogram a robot to have fun, Also who the hell named a robot Jim?

 “And you named it ... _Jim?”_ he raised his eyebrow at Lance.

 Pidge threw her hand in the air towards him, “See? Even _he_ thinks it's weird.” 

 “What, It's the first name that came to my head,” Lance shrugged. “That day was the greatest day of my life. Rest in peace, Jim,” he wiped a theatrical tear from the corner of his eyes. 

 “Lotor was _not_ happy about the mess.”

 “Yet _another_ reason why it was such a great day,” Lance gave Allura a grin at her squint at him.

 He turned to Keith, “Ooh, which reminds me.”

 Before Keith could react, he'd picked the tablet up, holding it in front of him. 

“What the ...?” Keith questioned at the sound of a picture taken.

Lance grinned at him, “Told you I was gonna take a picture. Now let's introduce you the greatest sentry in the universe.” 

 Keith just rolled his eyes, he'd make Lance delete that Later. Lance scooched closer to him, and Keith blamed the fact that he was hyper aware of their shoulders and knees touching on the shirt. It felt like he was looking to the world through a blueberry scented window, making a small drift between him and reality.

 Lance started showing pictures of the three of them with a sentry. They looked like they were having fun. Keith wondered how it would've been if he'd been there. The thought made something inside of him hurt. 

 “Wait, are you wearing ... druid clothes?” Keith paused to zoom in on one of the pictures, Lance had one of those creepy masks on his forehead.

 “Dude, that's nothing,” Lance passed over a few images before staying on one. It showed Hunk wearing ... Zarkon's armour sitting on the throne, Pidge standing hunched next to him. Keith couldn't help his laugh at their poses. 

 “I present to you, Emperor Hunkon ... and Pidge.”

 “What, I don't get a horrible name?” Pidge asked. She had moved to sit on the floor next to couch to watch the pictures.

 “No, there's no need. Pidge is already _horrible_ enough, and _evil.”_

 Pidge made a face at him. It made Lance bend down to wrap a hand around her neck, “I'm kidding. There's nothing horrible about our genius little master mind,” he gave her cheek a soundy kiss.

 Pidge pushed him away, wiping the said cheek, “Ew, don't give me your cooties.”

  _“Cooties?!”_ Lance snorted, Keith and the others with him. “what are you, twelve?” he looked at her, “Oh right, I _forgot,_ you _are.”_

 “I'm sixteen and you know it.” 

 “You still look short enough to be twelve.” 

 Pidge gave him a glare, still rubbing on her cheek. Even so, Keith could see the smile she was trying to hide. “Whatever, just don't ever give me your disgusting cooties again.” 

  _“Disgusting?”_ Lance gasped dramatically. He put a hand on his heart, “how _dare_ you? I'll have you know a lot of people would be glad to have a taste of my _cooties.”_

 Almost everyone in the room laughed at the same time.

 “Name one and I'll change my name,” Pidge snorted.

 “And don't you fucking dare say kissing booth,” she added at the same time Lance said “the kissing booth.”

 Pidge frowned at him, “That doesn't count.” 

 “Of course it _counts,”_ Lance argued, “why wouldn't it count?” 

 “Because you can't keep using it.”

 “Yes, I can.” 

 “No, you can't.” 

 This could go on for a while, so Keith decided to cut in, asking his question, “Uh, _kissing booth_?

 “Yeah, at Garrison,” Lance answered absentmindedly, before his head snapped to Keith, “Oh, right you were ... gone by then.” 

 “Does your entire memory of Garrison divide into when Keith was there and when Keith wasn't there?” 

 Lance only made a face at Pidge before grinning at Keith, “Let me tell you about that time people were willing to pay _actual_ money to get my so called _disgusting_ cooties.” 

  _“No,_ here we go again,” Pidge complained looking at Keith, “did you _had to_ ask?” 

 Keith just shrugged.

 “Yes, he did, now _shush,”_ Lance told Pidge.

 “It was like around first of our third year, Garrison was holding one of those huge charity fairs and they had these kissing booths, which I still can't believe they did, cause _ew,”_ Lance wrinkled his nose, “anyway, I was just walking past one of them when this guy drags me in, asking me to keep an eye on the place till he comes back, and then vanished before I can say _no._ And I swear, Keith, the line got at least _tripled_ in like a minute. I mean I literally just _standing_ there, not even offering any ... _service.”_

 Keith might've released a small sigh of relief. For a second, he'd been scared Lance had been offering to kiss random strangers. 

 But apart from that, it was time like this, when the three talked about their time at garrison together, that Keith wondered how different things would've turned out if he hadn't dropped out. Still, punching that douchebag, Iverson, was worth getting kicked out.

 Allura made an unbelieving scoff, “Yeah, _right.”_

 “Yes, _right._ Hunk tell’em.” Lance looked at Hunk.

 “He's not lying.” 

 “He's right, it really _did,”_ Pidge looked like it physically pained her to admit that, “well, up until the point he yelled at us to go see all the _idiots who wanted to smooch him._ He did not shut up about it for like _a_ month.” 

 Lance crossed his leg over the other, placing his arms on the backrest, with a _way_ too smug smirk, “There were like at least a hundred people there. I mean I knew I'm as fine as they come, but that was a new level.” 

 To be fair, Keith couldn't say he was _that_ surprised. From an objective point of view speaking Lance _was_ a pretty good looking guy. He let his eyes roam over the other boy. Sure, Keith had called him that, but he really wasn't lanky, maybe just a little when they first got there, but he certainly wasn't now. _Long-limbed_ would be a better word for him, or slim, and not in a way that was un-pleasing to the eyes. His face was the portrait of classical beauty, all edges, the arched eyebrows, that sharp jaw, the small turned up pointy end of his nose. And Lance might really onto something with his beauty routine, because his skin really _did_ look like it was glowing sometimes, and even when it wasn't the tan color was still quite ... attractive, and it was definitely in harmony with the chocolate hair. Keith had thought his hair stood weird at first, but not _anymore,_ though it was longer and curlier now, maybe it was that. His ears were a little flappy, but it just looked adorable. And then there were his eyes. They weren't the usual light blue, or green blue, no they were darker blue, bluer blue. Keith wasn't sure if there even _was_ a word that described that color. You probably could go into depths of the ocean and still not find something that blue. And they were looking right into his.

  _Shit,_ they were looking right into his. Keith might've been staring for a while now.

 Lance arched an eyebrow, “What?” 

 It was a miracle how fast Keith managed to collect himself, and not turn a few shades darker. Though, he dipped his head a little lower just in case, “Just trying to figure out what was wrong with those people. I'm pretty sure no one would want that _even_ if you paid them, let alone be willing to _pay_ for it.” He wanted to go for teasing, but he might've felt a little defensive. He'd been staring too much.

 But then Lance's shoulders did a little drop, a small frown taking over hus face. The look he gave Keith really made him want to take what he’d said back. He was a fucking hypocrite; like he wouldn't be the _first_ in that line.

 Lance crossed his arms over his chest, looking away, “I'm good-looking and you all know it. Just because no one around here's willing to admit it, doesn't make it less true.” 

 “Hey, I'm willing to admit it.” Hunk came to his support.

 Lance smiled at him, “Thanks, man, you're a pure cinnamon roll.” He gave a look to Keith from the corner of his eyes that said ‘ _unlike you.’_

 “Though, it was nice to know I had an option B for career if I ever got kicked out of garrison.” 

 He was clearly joking but that second part got Keith's attention.

 “Why would you get kicked out?” 

 “Cause Iverson always looked this close to kicking me out,” Lance shrugged.

  _Oh, right,_ Keith had a vague memory of that. Iverson had always hated Keith, from the first day they'd met. So, he'd been quite shocked when he'd seen there was someone Iverson treated even worse than him. And he treated Keith horribly.

 He felt like he should offer some comfort, “Would it make you feel better if I told you I punched him?” 

Lance smiled at him, “I know. It really _did_ make me feel better then. No, wait, actually it _still_ does.” 

 “You ... _know?_ How do you _know?”_  he couldn't help asking. Keith had never told anyone, and he doubted Iverson would ever tell anyone he'd gotten his ass kicked by a student. Even if he hated the man, Keith might've still felt a little—once his anger had died down—guilty over the man going half blind. But Keith hadn't meant to do that. He only had punched him, how was he supposed to know the man was standing loose enough to end up hitting the table?

 “Uh, well, he got the eyepatch the next day after you vanish- _dropped_ out, and Shiro was ... you know presumably dead, and you had anger issues. Wasn't that hard to put the two and two together,” Lance shrugged a shoulder. His ears were getting a small hint of red in them, and Keith could only stare at him.

 “How did you know I had ... anger issues?” Sure, _now_ they had spent enough time together for him to know. Everyone at the castle knew. Though, no one beside him and Shiro ever said it to Keith's face. But back then? How would he know that _then?_

 “Because I had eyes? And you always were talking back to the instructor. Though, my all time favourite was that time Iverson was trying to tell you how to work the simulator and you told him to ‘ _beat it, old man,’_ ” Lance snorted a laugh, “I'll never forget the look on his face. Oh, that was the single best moment of my life.” 

 Hunk nodded from the next couch, “Yeah, I remember that day, Lance came to me all like ‘Hunk, I do not hate Keith even _a little_ today,’ I thought he might've hit his head somewhere or something.”

 Keith didn't like thinking about Lance hating him. And he really wasn't sure he could really call it _hate._

 “So,” Keith drawled, “how often did you guys talked about me?” he was curious, _okay?_ Lance just seemed to know too much. Keith was still surprised, Lance revealed that he knew more and more every time they talked about it. And if Keith was smirking a little when he asked that, well, he really couldn't help it.

 “Not that often.” 

  _“All_ the time.” 

 Lance glared Hunk into changing his answer into ‘ _not that often’_  too. But Keith wasn't blind, _or_ deaf. He raised an eyebrow at Lance, demanding a real answer.

 “Look man, _trust_ me; you really don't wanna know the things I've called you,” Lance looked somewhere between annoyed, and apologetic.

 “It can't be worse than the things you called me _here,”_ Keith smiled at him.

 His attempt at making Lance smile seemed to backfire; Lance rubbed the back of his neck, looking  ashamed now. He really shouldn't be, _sure,_ he'd acted childish and petty towards Keith at first. But it had only taken a few jibs from him for Keith to act just as, if not more, petty towards him. Lance just had that way with him, to goad him into anything, but _so_ did Keith. The way they'd been at first, it was on both of them.

 Still, Lance had been the first one in the castle who'd actively tried to have a relationship with him, even if it was constantly challenging him to everything, and annoying him to the end of the world, and rare sometimes _just_ talking to him. It still had helped Keith connect with the others here. He knew if it hadn't been for Lance dragging him everywhere—for rivalry purposes of course—he'd never feel this comfortable around the others. Besides, the challenges had turned more into something more fun and into enjoyable bickers over time. They both had come a long way, and Keith was really happy about that.

 “No, it really _really_ can be.” Lance insisted.

 “Yeah, man. He once complained for like two weeks over your group assignment with professor ... who was it? Oh, yeah  Collins.” Hunk added, shaking his head.

 Lance sent his glare to him _again,_ “Hunk, buddy, there's only so many times I'm gonna forgive your big mouth.”

 Hunk sat up straight, closing a zip over his mouth with his hand.

 Apparently satisfied with that, Lance crossed his arms over his chest, looking back to Keith, “And in my defence, you were the _worst_ teammate back then. You gave me the done paper the next day and told me to _not bother,_ you'd handled it and your paper would get us better grade than anything we would ever write.” 

 “Oh, Lance was _so_ cranky that day,” Hunk jibbed in, unlike what he'd promised a second ago.

 “Well, that wasn't a nice thing to say,” Lance half glared at Keith.

 “Yeah, I, I didn't work well with groups,” Keith admitted. He really had tried at first, but most kids just wanted a free ride in the group assignments, or just wouldn't work with him on things. So he'd eventually decided on just doing all of the group assignments on his own. No one had ever seemed to have a problem with it ... till now.

 Lance's glare went softer, his eyebrows untangling, “Yeah, I know _now,_ but back then it felt like part of your _holier than thou_ attitude. _So_ I threw out your paper, wrote my own, gave it to Collins, got us full score. You have _no_ idea the amount of satisfaction doing that gave me.” 

 Keith couldn't help his laugh at how honest he was being. He could even hear the satisfaction in his voice. But _wait._

 “You were the A+, weren't you?” 

 “What? I mean of course I am,” Lance gestured to himself, “but _what?”_

 “Collins, he never gave me full score. I got into an argument with him my first days there and he would _never_ gave me higher than—” 

 “Higher than A,” Lance finished for him, “Yeah, I remember. _Also_ another point of satisfaction.” He gave Keith a laughing shrug.

 Lance hadn't been wrong about the talking back thing. Honestly, sometimes Keith couldn't find it in him to put up with the teachers bullshit back then, he had lost count of the times Shiro had had to meddle in. Keith had gotten into a fight with that professor his first week there, and the man held a grudge, alright; he never gave Keith anything higher than A, no matter how good his work was. And to be honest Keith didn't care that much about it; _A+, A_ what was the difference? The only classes that actually interested him were the ones involving flying simulators, the theoretical classes weren't that interesting to him. 

 So he had been quite surprised to see the man break his tradition and give him an A+, he'd considered it as a grading mistake. Now, though.

 And apart from that, once again, _wait._

 “You know my grades? _How_ do you know my grades? And _why_ do you even remember that?” he questioned.

 “How many times, Keith? We were rivals, I _needed_ to know.” 

 Keith ignored the few snorts going on around them, to look at Lance, “We really _really_ weren't, Lance.” he told him, as gentle as he could.

 “I thought we were,” Lance said quietly. He ran a hand through his hair. A frown sitting on his face, looking to the side.

 Keith heard Allura whispering _‘awkward’_ to Pidge's ear.

 He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what to say. Every time they talked about Garrison, it left him at an uneasy place, and it very clearly was a sore subject for Lance. Keith could tell that much, yet sometimes he couldn't help asking more. It was just Lance freaking remembered too much about him. All those details, he clearly remembered more about Keith there, than Keith remebered himself. Who paid that much attention to someone they hated?

 “Anyway, what shall we call you now, Pidgeon?” Lance said after a few moments. She raised an eyebrow in question.

 “You said name one, and I named plenty.”

 Oh, right what she'd said earlier.

  _“Technically_ you didn't name any. You just mentioned a bunch of nameless group of people,” Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, “And possibly crazy ones.” 

 “Oh, come on. That's not fair!” Lance threw his hands in the air.

 “I think I can name one,” Allura had raised her hand in the air like she was in a class, but she had a smirk on. _That_ smirk.

 “No.” 

 Pidge looked at her, a silent conversation seemed to go between them. Allura seemed to lose, “Fine, apparently I _can't.”_

 Keith shared a questioning look with Lance, but he just shrugged.

 

  
 Keith had thought he could sleep without saying anything. But if the last hour of him just moving around in his bed told him anything, he _couldn't._ Lance had still looked down until dinner, and all through it. Keith couldn't just voice nothing.

 He had heard Lance shuffling around next door, so he knew he must be awake too.

 “Lance?” Keith called for him through the wall.

 “Yeah?” 

 “Truce?” 

 “Truce?” Lance made a small laugh, “We're not fighting, Keith.” 

 “Yeah, just the ... Garrison stuff earlier, You seemed upset.” 

 This time the answer came with a delay, “No, I wasn't. I know I can get a bit ... childish when it comes to Garrison. It's just, you just,” Lance sighed, not finishing the sentence. Keith wasn't sure he even knew what he wanted to say himself.

 “It's fine,” Lance said after a second, “It's not your fault you don't remember. Guess your head was looking too high in the clouds to see me.” 

  _Or not looking high enough._

 “What?” Lance questioned.

 Oh, had Keith said that out loud? 

 “Nothing.” 

 “So, yeah. We're cool,” Lance assured, a smile to his voice.

 “Then can I ask you something about it?” 

 A pause, “Sure.” 

 “Why do you blush every time we talk about Garrison?” Look, Keith really couldn't help asking it, or the smirk. The first time  he'd put it on the lighting, but Lance’s ears turned red _every_ time. They hadn't stopped growing redder and redder even for _a_ second during their earlier conversation.

 “What? No, I don't.” 

 “Yeah, you do. Your ears go all red and then it travels all the way to your neck.” _It's adorable._

 “No, they don't.” 

 Keith could imagine Lance's hands going to his ears as he said that defensively. He couldn't help his laugh. Lance must've heard it.

 “They _don't.”_ At Keith's continued laugh he added, “Fuck off, Keith.” 

 Keith couldn't help his snort at how high his tone was. 

 “So that truce still stands, right?” he asked after a few seconds.

 “It _does,_ but if I _accidentally_ trip you a few times tomorrow, that's part of the truce too.” 

 “Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try.”

 “Oh, you _will,_ Keith. You _will._ Now goodnight and goodbye.” 

 “Good night.” 

_“Stupid mullet.”_

 Keith smiled at the mutter; Lance really should sound mad, but he sounded like he was smiling. The thought that _he_ had caused it, made his chest feel warm. Well, that could be the shirt too. His own shirt had been dry when he'd returned to his room. He still hadn't taken Lance's shirt off. It was just so soft and comfortable, and if Keith was being honest in the solitude of his room, he liked wearing it. 

 He fell sleep to the shirt drowning him in Lance's scent, and him hearing Lance's heartbeat—because apparently he could never stop that now—and boy, he really _really_ was screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you're trying to write fluff, but Lance won't stop being _salty_ so it turns to angst instead. Well, back into the rabbit hole we go.
> 
> So the return of garrison, what do you think about that? Cause I'm digging really deep into it, in later chapters. 
> 
> Also Keith is so _so_ gay. I mean I'm writing this and I still can't control him anymore :)


	35. Chapter 35

 Keith and Lance were in the training room when the castle's alarm blurred. Coran's voice broadcasted.

 “Paladins, get to the bridge now.” 

 He shared a look with Lance before they both began running. 

 “What do you think happened? It's been a while since we had an alarm going off,” Lance turned his head towards him while moving. A hint of worry to his voice. Not knowing Keith simply shrugged.

 They arrived at the bridge shortly but were the last ones there, their training room was pretty far away. It became clear that they weren't under attack as soon as they set foot in the room. Allura and Shiro were moving behind the panel in distress. 

 “What's going on?” Keith asked.

 “We're having an emergency meeting,” Shiro answered, not looking.

  _“Really?_ We couldn't tell that on our own,” Lance said, humour clear in his tone. 

 He held his hands up at the sharp glance Shiro sent him, “Sorry.” 

 He stayed quiet after that, standing next to Keith till everyone around the room settled down. Live calls of coalition, rebels, and Kolivan—so he _was_ alive, Keith had been starting to question that since he hadn't answered any of his messages—on the screen.

 Allura began speaking, “We've received a distress call from planet Traxon earlier this morning—” 

 “Was that the one with the hovery thingy?” Lance whispered to him. Shiro glared them to silence before he could answer.

 “—A small group of their people along sentries were seen to take over this building,” she tapped on the pUanel to make a holographic map of a building showing up, “It's where they keep the technology that allows their cities to fly around the planet,” so Lance had been right, “without it, the gravity will cause them to fall to ground, resulting in death of ... many. It's also their military basis.” 

 “Sentries? As in galra sentries?” Hunk asked.

 “Yes,” she answered, “It appears some of their people are siding with the galra generals fighting against us, helping them take over the planet.” 

 “What?” Keith asked.

 “They're rebelling against our rebellion,” Pidge said in humourless humour. 

 “Why? They just got freed from them, why would they want to fall back under their rule?” Keith questioned taking a step forward.

 “Some people find advantage in war, my boy,” Coran's answer was said rather darkly. Sometimes Keith forgot how much the man had seen.

 Of course, it wasn't the first time that something like that had happened. They had come across many planets where some of the people had sided with the galra for their own benefit. Keith considered it disgusting and cowardly for them to turn against their people for their own benefit, watching the others suffer for their own selfish reasons. It surprised him every time. Yet, this was the first time something like that had happened after Zarkon had fallen. The war was over, what was the point in siding with the losing side? Unless of course, the war wasn't truly over.

 “We're going in as quick as possible, we need to take care of the problem before the word gets out. Before the same issue happens on the other planets.” 

 “Isn't it _better_ to let the word get out?” Keith asked looking at Shiro, “Let all the ... traitors show themselves, get rid of the root of the problem?” 

 Lance nodded next to him, “Yeah, I'm with Keith. We should—” 

 “We can't afford to deal with god knows how many people on all the coalition planets.” Shiro cut in.

 Lance uncrossed one arm to gesture at the man, “Isn't that our _job,_ as Voltron?” 

_“Our job_ is to keep the universe safe. We don't have time to deal with a bunch of rogues every time they decide the wind is changing. We get rid of this before anyone else decides to rise up,” Shiro answered in a very final tone.

 “Now, We need to get in, deal with issue without being seen. As you know their planet is highly advanced, we need to be very careful not to be documented by any of the civilians, we cannot let anyone see us there. You know how fast the news about Voltron gets around,” he added.

 “Wow, I miss the good old days when we swept in saving people, _without_ having to worry about _freaking_ social media.” 

 Before Keith even had a chance to huff a laugh at him, Shiro sent a deadly glare towards them. Was that much hostility in his eyes really necessary? It's not like Lance’s voice had been anything higher than a whisper to Keith. 

 “Does that mean no Voltron again?” Hunk asked, there was a dissapointment to his tone. How long had they not formed Voltron that even Hunk was upset by it?

 Shiro nodded, “We can't even take the lions, we can not afford them getting seen. We're taking pods,” he gestured to the hologram, “We'll go in two teams of two. Me and Allura will take the east wing. Lance, you and Krolia will take the west one.” 

  _What?_ “Uh, Krolia?” Keith asked.

 “Yes,” Shiro answered, “We need someone to help us infiltrate the place without getting seen. And since she's a member of the blade, Kolivan has assured me she's an expert in the art.” 

 So was Keith.

 “Hate to break it to you, Shiro, but we already have one of those, and a pretty badass one if you ask me.”

 Keith bit back his laugh at the way Lance stepped to the side gesturing with both hands towards him as if presenting him.

 “I mean no offense,” Lance added, looking to Krolia.

 “None taken,” she said.

 Unfortunately, Shiro was _not_ amused. He frowned, well more, “I've decided to take her.” 

 “Why?” 

 Bless lance for asking.

 “I mean Keith is a paladin, he is part of this team. He knows how to work with us. He knows our dynamics, Krolia doesn't. Keith is better for the job,” Lance continued. “Still no offense,” he told Krolia again.

 She smiled, holding up a hand, “Still none taken.” 

 Keith couldn't help the small smile that took over his lips. Lance had used present tense, Lance still counted him as part of the team and a paladin. It was a small thing but Keith appreciated it.

 “No, he is not. This is a sensitive mission, I can't afford him acting out,” Shiro's look on him made Keith cross his arms over his chest. “If something goes wrong I need someone who can keep their cool, to handle the situation.” 

 Keith couldn't help his frown. Shiro ... didn't trust him to be able to do that? Shiro always believed in him. Even when Keith didn't.

 He felt Lance leaning closer to him, “Yeah, Keith's a hot-head. He always has been. Did not stop us ... _you_ from taking him to missions before.” 

 Shiro's icy look made Keith shiver. He wasn't sure he was happy it wasn't directed at him, or upset it was directed at Lance. Something about the step Shiro took towards the other boy seemed threatening. It made Keith want to hide him behind his back, to keep him away from Shiro. Which was ridiculous, Shiro would never hurt Lance.

 “Lance, I don't think you're really in a position to tell me who to bring after last time. Frankly, the only reason _you're_ coming is because I need a sniper. And I don't think it's a good idea to put you two on the same team at the time.” 

 Lance's shoulders had done a drop at Shiro's words. Yet, the hurt look on his face vanished quickly as he turned to share a look with Keith.

 “Why ... not?” he asked fairly. If anything now was the time to put them on the same team. They've been working better than ever together. And they did form a pretty good team even before Keith had left for the blade. But now, their double trainings at the training room was getting higher scores than Keith had ever gotten alone.

 “Because I need to know at least _one_ person on the team will listen to my orders,” Shiro's tone was clear in the ‘none of you do’ before he pointed to Krolia.

 She answered with a nod, yet as soon as Shiro turned around, she whispered _‘I wouldn't bet on it.’_ And you know what? Keith really wanted to go high-five her.

 Lance stepped forward, he looked like he was about to protest more. Keith grabbed a hold of his arm before he could open his mouth. He shook his head when Lance turned to look at him. Something was going on with Shiro and whatever it was, he'd decided to take it out specifically on Lance. Keith just didn't think it was a good idea for them to fall into a discourse right now. Certainly not for _his_ sake.

 A small crease appeared between Lance’s eyebrows, but eventually he nodded. He crossed his arms when Keith let go of him, staying silent for the rest of the time Shiro spent explaining the plan. He opened his mouth a few times but never actually said anything. It was probably for the best. Call it a hunch, but Keith doubted Shiro would listen to any suggestion that came from Lance right now. Which was a big mistake on his side, Lance's suggestions were what had kept this team together.

 “We're leaving now, so suit up,” Shiro ordered eventually.

 “Don't wait up, mullet,” Lance winked before turning to leave.

  _“Haha,”_ he called after him.

 Keith faced Kolivan, “I need to speak with you,” he told Kolivan before he could end the call. He waited for the others to leave, and the other calls to disconnect before asking.

 “When am I being sent on my mission?” 

 “Unknown.” 

 Unknown? Seriously? “Unknown till when?” Keith demanded.

 “Indefinitely,” Kolivan answered in a monotone voice, which his voice usually was.

 “Look, I know we messed up the mission, but you can't just throw us out because of _one_ mission.” 

 “One mission? You have done thisagain and again, Keith,” Kolivan frowned, “We've received news on a new general getting their hand on a prototype of that quintessence you were supposed to destroy. _Unknown_ quintessence which we do not know any thing about or the kind of weapon it can be used for.” 

  _What?_ But Krolia had said ... Keith had thought that place would be destroyed.

 “That is on _you,_ Keith.” 

 “I've given you the mission report. You know it was Krolia.” He felt a little bad about saying that now but to be fair, It _was_ Krolia's fault, even if she had done it to save him.

 “And I warned you to be wary of personal relations.” 

 Wait. Keith frowned even more, “So you _did_ know, that she was my mother?” 

 “Of course I knew.” He answered rather calmly.

 His calmness angering Keith, “How could you not tell me?” that was half of his reason for leaving Voltron, to find out how he was tied to the galra and Kolivan had had the answer all that time? He just had kept it to himself?

 “Because emotions do _not_ matter here, personal feelings, personal relations, they're all things we can _not_ afford.” 

 “But—” 

 “That is the first lesson among the blades, and you _still_ have not learned it,” The galra man cut in, holding up a hand. “Until you prove to me that you understand that, that you understand that the mission comes before _all_ individuals, you are not allowed to set foot back in this base.” 

 “And considering Krolia has not learned that after all these years, I doubt you _ever_ will.” 

 Kolivan ended the call before Keith could get another word out. 

  _Fine,_ Keith would prove to him that he understood—he _had_ to, the blade was all he was left with, now that he was no longer a paladin.

 But, he wasn't planning on leaving before he finds out what was going on with Shiro anyway.

 He watched the two pods vanishing into the wormhole through the window before leaving the bridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear Keith will stop being a stay at home wife, soon :)


	36. Chapter 36

 Lance admired the view as they flew closer to the planet. Krolia was sitting tightly in her seat. When Lance had told her that she really should sit down as he had began flying the pod she'd said she was okay. _Like mother, like son._ Keith had said the same thing the first time he'd been in a pod Lance flew. Of course the difference was; where Krolia had sat down thirty seconds into his crazy flying and fastened her seatbelt; Keith had stubbornly kept standing—which _really,_ his mistake, he'd seen how Lance flew his lion, he should've known the pod wouldn't be any better—so Lance had flown _extra_ deranged. Look, he could fly normally if he tried, tried really hard, but what was the joy in that? He liked flying in a random way, in a way that made his blood rush, not knowing which direction he would go next. And _yeah,_ Lance had flied extra crazy that day, because Keith was looking at him challenging and Lance could not resist rising up to the bait. It had been quite early in their time in the castle, so it had felt like an amazing achievement to Lance when the other boy had started throwing up in less than five minutes. He had not sat in the same pod with Lance for three months after that. Lance wished he could say he regretted doing that but honestly, he still found it funny.

 He admired the planet once more. The big flying city hovered across its surface. Pidge and Hunk had went on a big rant on _why,_ the first they were here. All Lance remembered was it was because of the gigantic glowing white crystal beneath the city, it generated some sort of magnetic field, keeping the city in the air.

 It was a beautiful scene and Keith had loved it the first time. They had helped the planet out of the galra rule _—help_ wasn't exactly the word, though. The people on this planet weren't treated the usual way other planets taken by the empire were. Traxons were highly advanced and the galra soldiers seemed to treat them somewhat respectfully, probably afraid of them, so Lance didn't find it that hard to believe some of their people might want to switch back to their side—back when Shiro had returned but Keith was still the back paladin. 

 Lance specifically remembered him liking this planet because of the little gasp he'd done, going quiet. His eyes sparking with awe, and yeah, okay, Lance might've found himself staring at _him,_ instead of staring at the actual view. In his defence; he hadn't seen Keith look at many things with that kind of admiration.

  _He should be here_. Lance sighed.

 He might've sighed a little too loud because Krolia chuckled next to him, “Could you be _more_ clearly thinking about him?” 

 “What?” he turned to look at her.

 In his small moment of distraction, the pod shifted to the side, slightly grazing Allura and Shiro's pod.

 “Lance!” Allura called.

 “Sorry, sorry,” Lance took control of the pod again, sending Krolia a glare. It only resulted in her giving another chuckle.

 “Remember, we need to do this unseen from outside and unheard from the inside. That means no shooting unless absolutely necessary,” Shiro called as they got closer to the surface. “I'm talking to _you,_ Lance.” 

 Did he really have to call him out like that? It's not like there was anyone else here who had a gun. Well, Krolia did but she wasn't using it in this mission. She was the one going in as Lance stood back, keeping an eye on things.

 “I thought you wanted a sniper?” he questioned.

 “Only in case things go wrong. So no shooting around whenever you feel like it, unserstood?” 

 Yes, because Lance usually went around shooting people for the heck of it. _Stop it,_ his brain scolded. _You know he's just trying to make sure things won't go wrong. You know, like they did last time._

 “Yes, sir,” he said, yet he couldn't help the sigh that followed as the comms went off.

 “Still think he's _such_ a good man?” 

Lance turned to her slightly, _“Yes,”_ he answered without hesitation. “He's just—” 

 “What? _Busy?”_ Krolia cut in, “ _Has a lot on his mind?”_

 Lance frowned. That's what he said to others every time someone brought up Shiro acting differently. That's what he told himself every time his mind brought it up. He did not appreciate her mocking tone.

 “Yes,” he continued before she could say anything, “We've been over this, Keith's mom, this _isn't_ up for discussion.” 

 She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. _Wow,_ add a pout and she'd be the spitting purple image of Keith.

 “You're the only one who ever calls me that,” She said after some time.

 At Lance’s questioning look she cleared, “Keith's mom.” 

  _Oh,_ he sometimes called her that instead of Krolia. Keith and her had gotten really closer, maybe not to an outsider’s eyes, but to his they had. Keith acted a lot more comfortable around her, and did engage in casual discussions with her. But they still had a long way to go. So Lance had thought it would be a source of reassurance to her. 

 “I can stop if you don't want me to.” 

 “No,” her answer came rather quickly, “please don't. It's a ... reminder and it makes this feel more ... _real.”_

 “Okay, gotcha, Keith's mom.” 

 She smiled in return.

 He found a place to land the pod, as long as it stayed invisible they should be safe.

 “Be careful,” Allura called over the comms at the last second.

 Shiro and her were taking the other side of the building, they were retaking the technology basis while he and Krolia took back the military one. So the two of them stepped inside alone. He had to hand it to Traxons with their architecture, the building in the shape of an enormous cube standing on one of it's corner was a beauty. It was a mixture of metallic walls and a _lot_ of windows. Unfortunately, it made remaining unseen a much harder job. 

 At least Pidge had set them all up with hacking programs that would almost open any door, bless her really, and any of them that it couldn't open, Krolia did. 

 Lance was pretty glad that there were only galra sentries here, and not actual Galra. Sentries were easier to kill, they were pretty dumb, and easier to deal with after killing. He didn't mean the bodies, he meant dealing with _killing_ them.

 It's not like he couldn't kill galra. He had, a lot, they all had, but he didn't like doing it. Even if the ones they killed were their enemy, they were still ... people. And killing people, that wasn't something Lance thought he could ever fully get used to.

 He still remembered the first time he had killed a galra—Well, _in person_ , he'd done it before in the ships, god knew how many people they had killed on all the ships they just blew up without a second thought. Were there prisoners on them? The galran home planet was destroyed so did all their people live on those battle cruisers? Families? _Kids?_ That was something Lance never liked thinking about—the galra soldier had been aiming at Hunk, so Lance had shot them down before they could shoot. He remembered standing there, just staring down at the motionless body. It had taken Hunk's excessive yelling to finally make him move.

 That had _not_ been a good day. Lance had locked himself in his room after they returned from the mission, having a total break down; thinking about the person he'd just _killed,_ ended their life, finished their entire existence; thinking whether they had a family, friends?; had they been there by choice? Lance doubted the empire gave a lot of options in career choices. 

 It had been Coran who came to check up on him, ending up in comforting him.

 He supposed it became easier with time, not the killing part, no, but he just learned not to think about it. Besides, he didn't exactly have much time to ponder on morality when someone was coming at him to kill him, or to kill any of his family.

 Still, he was glad there was no killing in this mission.   
  
 

 They were at the last hallway to the inside base now, apparently the lock on this door was a complicated one and took some time to open up. He found a higher spot to settle, getting his rifle ready, backing up Krolia from a far. Not that she seemed like she needed it. He pretty much was just informing her where the next sentry was going to attack her.

 She entered the room as soon as the door opened. Lance couldn't get a clear visual, the room was to the side and the door was rather small for such a big place. 

 “Everything alright?” he asked when he heard a grunt from her side of the comms.

 “Yeah, the room's just heavily guarded, but I'll handle it.” 

 Lance had no doubts. But unfortunately that's when he noticed a large group of sentries coming in from the other side of the hallway through the rifle scope. He could take them all down before they even entered the room but ...

 “Shiro, we're having some difficulties over here, Can I, you know, start shooting?” he asked through the comms.

 “No.” 

 “But—” 

 “I said no,” Shiro cut in, “We're not still done with our side, and we cannot let them know we're here. Don't engage. That's an _order,_ Lance.” 

  _Ugh,_ “Fine,” he complied.

 “Krolia, there are at least fifteen more sentries coming your way, can you handle them?” 

 There was no answer from her side.

 “Krolia, do you copy? ” Lance asked again. He got an answer this time. But it was only another grunt.

  _Fine, fine,_ he wasn't allowed to use his gun? Well, good thing shooting wasn't the only way he could fight anymore. 

 He waited for all the sentries to go inside the room before coming out of his hide spot, changing his bayard into the sword as he ran inside. He slashed his sword to the door panel making the door close down. No sentries going out, no more sentries coming in, no one could run out and tell anyone they were here so Shiro, hopefully, wouldn't mind.

 “Now, did anyone ask for back up?” 

 His smile might've wavered a little as he looked for Krolia, because _holy shit_ that was a lot of robots not to use a gun on. _Alright, here we go._ This was the first time he was facing an actual enemy fighting with the sword. He might be a little, a lot, excited. He'd been training nonstop for months now, let's see how if it'd paid off.

 Oh, it had paid off, alright. He swung his sword through the first two coming at him, kicking the third in the chest. Dodging the blow another one was sending him from the side, so it hit another sentry instead. The next one was coming at him with a blaster, Lance slid underneath it, slicing his sword through the mechanical body as he passed. _Yeah, baby_! Aw, man, that's like Keith's favourite move. Lance wished he was here to see how awesomely he had pulled it off.

 A laser shot flying _way_ too close to his face brought him out of the thought. Right, _focus._

 It took him and Krolia a couple of minutes to get rid of the rest of the robots in the room.

 “Thank you, Lance, for coming in,” She told him pulling her blade, not a Blade blade, just a normal small blade, out of a sentries body. It twitched slightly upon the action.

 “No problem, that's what Lancey lanc– _Watch out!”_

 They had missed one of the sentries and it was aiming its gun right at her. The world became a little slower as Lance pushed her out of the way, feeling his bayard change back to a blaster. He shot but it had shot first.

* * *

 

  
 Instead of training Keith ended up spending time in the hangers, with red. Just because he wasn't a paladin anymore didn't mean he couldn't spend time with her. He missed her, a lot. The connection he had with her was unique, and he was never letting that go. So he'd been sitting here, leaning his back to her paw for the past couple of hours.

  They should be back by now, shouldn't they? The castle was quite boring ... like this.

 He felt red laughing at him. Keith turned back to sent her a glare, he knew _that_ laugh. She usually saved it for when he was feeling something, usually pissed, at something Lance had done, and he did _not_ appreciate it.

 It only resulted in her making another. _Oh yeah? Laugh all you want, we'll see who'll be laughing when I tell him to stop giving you washes._

 He still remembered the surprised expression on Lance when he'd asked him to give her regular polishes, as much of a little shit she could be, she was a good kitty she deserved a shiny appearance, he'd said something along the lines of ‘So there are things you actually care about, mullet.’ It had been a joke of course. But Keith hadn't realised it, sending him a threatening glare. Lance had jumped behind her paw dramatically, hiding from him. The memory brought a smile to him.

 Another laugh. Okay, she'd had way too much fun this past hours. He stood up, he wanted to go check with Coran if everything was going alright with the mission. He felt her sending a sad wave towards him as she leaned down. If he had to describe the feeling he sent her, it would be a kitten or a vaby lion licking his face. Keith placed a hand on her nose. Yeah, I miss you too. 

 Black caught his eye as he turned to leave. He paused, taking a step toward her; _do you know what's going on with Shiro?_

 Nothing. Well, that's exactly what he expected. Black felt different since he'd returned. Something felt off with her, the same way it did with Shiro. 

 He shook his head, making his way to the bridge. Coran was there as expected. 

 “Hey,” Keith said, the altean man greeting him with a nod.

 “Shouldn't they be back by now?” he questioned.

 “Oh, they are.” 

 “What?” 

 “They came in, just now.” Coran answered.

  _Okay, seriously?_ Two minutes he left the hangers and _that's_ when they come back?

 He didn't get to ask anything else before the doors slid open, Shiro walking in.

 Keith took a step towards him, “Hey, how did it go?” he asked. 

“Perfect, we cleared the bases and we even managed to acquire this,” Shiro raised his hand, something like a usb drive in it, he handed it to Coran to connect to the castle’s mainstream. 

 “What's that?” he asked. Why was no one else coming in?

 “Possible info on any other rogues in the coalition planets, to get rid of that root of the problem you mentioned. So next time have a little bit of more trust in my judgement.” Shiro gave him the closest thing to a smile he had shown these days.

 Keith looked at the man, “Shiro, I ... trust you. Of course I do.” 

 “Didn't sound like it the other day.” 

 Keith uncrossed his arms, Shiro almost sounded hurt. “I'm-I'm sorry if I overstepped any bounds that day, it's just ...” he caught himself. Keith wasn't as pissed as he'd been that day anymore. Besides, if he was going to figure out what was going on with Shiro, he couldn't have him be mad at him. “I'm sorry. But I trust you. You know I do. Always.” After everything Shiro had done for him of course he did. “After everything you've done ... I know I owe everything I have to you.” 

 “Good,” Shiro's tone was very serious. “Don't forget that.” 

 “I ... won't,” Keith might be smiling on the outside, but on the inside? Shiro had never said something like that to him. Yet, Keith wasn't lying, he trusted Shiro with his life. The man had saved it enough times for him to do that. Whatever was going on with him, Keith would help him fix it. God knows after all the times Shiro had done the same for him when he'd fell out of line he owed it to him. But when they _do_ fix it, Shiro really owed an apology to the team and Lance.

 “Where is everyone?” Keith asked. He still couldn't hear anyone walking to the bridge.

 “Oh yeah, there were some complications with the other pod,” Shiro made a dismissive wave of his hand, eyes already scanning the newfound information on the screens.

 What? “Complications?” Keith asked. 

 “Yeah, Lance got shot or something.” 

  _What?_

 He was out the door before he knew it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think about all the people they've killed and how bad they must feel about that a lot, they're just so young :(


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise.”_
> 
> - Richard Bach

He let his ears arrive at the infirmary long before he did. Still, it was a miracle he heard Allura's voice over how loud his heart was beating. It also another miracle it hadn't broken free out of his chest.

 “Lance, seriously, stop moving around.”

 Okay, She was talking to Lance. If she was scolding him, that meant he was okay, right? The thought brought no amount of reassurance, nor did it make him slow down. He practically barged into the room.

 “Lance?”

 If there was anyone else in the room Keith didn't saw them. Eyes searching and staying on Lance as soon as they found him. He was sitting on one of the beds, looking up at Keith's voice. He must've seen something on Keith's face, he held up his hands immediately, “Whoa, whoa, hey I'm fine. It's just a scratch.” He showed up his arm. The armour was gone, the black suit on his shoulder off. A horizontal red line of blood on his upper arm. The cut wasn't too deep, so the shot must've just grazed him passing. He was okay.

 Keith let go of the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Taking another one in as he looked up, covering his face with both hands, “Oh, god.”

 “Did you ... run here?”

 Placing a hand on his chest to catch his breath Keith realised that _yes,_ he indeed had run here with all he got, which he blamed on Shiro entirely; You don't just tell people their Lance was shot without telling them it was nothing. For fuck's sake, he must've known Lance was alright, couldn't he just tell Keith that? He did know Lance was okay, right? Otherwise he wouldn't have said it like that, ‘ _got shot or something_ ’. He wouldn't, right?

  _Right?_

 “Aw, someone was worried about me,” Lance's voice was filled with amusement but he was smiling at him.

 Keith finally had a second to look around the room. Allura was standing next to Lance, suturing up his arm. They didn't use the pods for less serious injuries. Krolia was standing farther away, looking at the two.

 “What happened?” Keith asked, collecting himself.

 “He saved my life.” Krolia sounded shocked.

 Lance waved his free hand dismissively,  _“Pfft,_ nah, it was nothing. Not that big of deal, just slowed us down for a bit, but we totally finished the mission after it.”

 “Only because Shiro _ordered_ us to, after _blaming_ you for shooting, and _you_ didn't let me punch him in the face,” Allura muttered under her breath.

  _“Allura,”_ Lance frowned. She looked up to him from his hand, a quiet conversation going on between them before she finally sighed and returned back to his upper arm.

 Lance returned his eyes back on Keith, “Anyway, what were you —ouch! Allura,” he pulled his arm out of her hold, “Be more gentle. My skin is sensitive.” He pouted. Keith hid a smile he knew when Lance was being dramatic. Unfortunately it was usually to distract people from something.

 “Then stop moving around. I have do this right or it's gonna scar.”

 Lance shrugged, leaning on his other hand, looking back to Keith, “I could do with a scar. It'll add to the Lance charm.” 

  _“Ow!_ Okay, seriously Allura, that one really hurt.”

 The look she gave him was _anything_ but innocent or sorry, “Oops.”

 “Anyway,” Lance sent her a glare before he let his glance back on Keith, “back to you, mullet. Did you beat the shit out of any robots today? Cause I sure did,” _wow,_ that was a big grin on his face, “Keith, you should've seen me. I pulled your move better than _you_ do and that's not even possible. I was, I was awesome.” He bounced up and down in his seat.

 “Lance, for the last time, _stop_ moving.” her words went pretty unnoticed.

 “He really was,” Krolia said with a small smile.

“Of course I was, they don't call me the cool ninja sharpshooter for nothing.”

 Okay, that face was _too_ smug, and yeah, Keith might not be able to help it, “Heh, Are you joking? No one calls you that.”

 The small way Lance's eyes rounded, and the small laugh he did told Keith he'd recognised the little exchange. “Hey, I'm not joking—” 

 Unfortunately Keith didn't get to hear what he wasn't joking about as Allura cut in, “Alright, that's it. You two, out,” She looked at him and Krolia pointing at the door.

 “What?”

 “Out, _now._ I need to focus.” 

Keith decided on listening to her, it was the best choice to make when she got bossy like that. 

 “And do tell Hunk and Pidge he's fine. We don't need anyone else running in here like it's the end of time.” 

 He pretended he didn't hear that, or Lance's snort after it as he stepped outside the room. He stood outside, resting his head back to a wall closing his eyes. He'd been absolutely terrified for a moment there. And it'd been a while since he'd felt that kind of terror. Which was still on Shiro for telling him like that.

 “What was that for?”

 Lance's voice came from inside, followed by Allura's.

 “Apparently you squirm even _more_ when Keith's here.”

 “ _Squirm?_ I'm not a worm, Allura. And can't help it, it tickles.” he made a small laugh.

 “That's because of the local anaesthesia or it wouldn't be exactly _tickling_ you _._ ”

 “I have a high pain tolerance.”

 “Oh, _really?_ Should we put that to the test. I can stop applying any time.”

 “I mean, we _could,_ but let's _not.”_

 Keith smiled. Funny even not in the same room Lance had a way of calming him down.

 “He saved my life.”

 Oh, Krolia was still standing there.

 “He risked his life for me. He hasn't known me for that long, why would he do that?” she sounded very shocked.

 “Yeah, he does that. You'll get used to it.” he knew his voice was fond.

 For the first time Keith was beginning to believe that she would stick around long enough to get used to it.

 And yes, Lance _did_ do that, a lot. Sure, risking their life for each other, that was something they all did at Voltron. But outside of it? when it came down to giving up their life for random individuals they just met, or even hadn't met at all, that came with a slight moment of hesitation. Not to Lance, though, he had this way of counting everyone his friend two seconds into meeting them, jumping to save them without a blink of an eye. It had resulted in him getting injured more than a few times. He held the record for most times being a pod by quite a far from everyone else, even from Keith—well, at least before the blade, he wasn't sure where they stood now—It almost scared him; Lance could be a little too careless with his life when it came to others. And that was Keith calling someone else that.

 Lance had known Krolia for a while now so he must've shown no amount of hesitation jumping in. Keith understood how that could be confusing to a blade. And even if Krolia was the least _blady_ blade Keith had seen. She still was one of them for ... wait how long had she been a blade? Keith couldn't believe he didn't know that, or how she'd come to join. He should ask that later. Perhaps when Lance was around. He seemed to enjoy her stories and Keith wanted him there just in case.

 “He's a good kid,” she looked at him with a smile, “I can see why you chose him.”

 “Yeah,” Keith agreed.

  _Wait a second_ , what was that _second_ part?

 He turned to her, “What do you mean ‘chose him’?”

 “As yours.”

 “As mine—what?” Keith questioned just as it hit him. Oh, come on, _again?_ “You think we're ... no, _no._ We're not ... me and Lance are not ... _together.”_

 Why did this keep happening? Why did people always assume that about them? It had happened a few times, back when he'd been the black paladin; on some of the planets they had saved people seemed to think of them as a ... couple. The first time it came to their notice had been when one of the leaders had shared his concerns about two of the paladins being _involved._ Keith remembered how the whole team had shared glances of ‘ _what the hell is he on about?’._ Allura had been the one to ask him to explain, and when the leader had, _well,_ Keith wasn't sure what had been louder; his _‘WHAT?’_ or Lance's, or Pidge's loud snicker—by the way _that_ had been the starting point for her annoying comments—and Keith had thought Lance would throw a fit about it but _noo,_ he had to go and find it funny. He'd spent the next half an hour straight up laughing. Keith wasn't even exaggerating. In the end he'd had to resort to deadly glares and actual threats of ‘ _making him shut the hell up’_ to make him stop laughing. Apparently that had _not_ helped the rumours around the situation at all.

 But those were people who they had just met, and yes, maybe Keith could see why they would get the wrong idea about them—He and Lance did make a good team and they worked pretty well together— but not her. Even if she'd assumed that when they first arrived, she'd been around the castle enough to know that it wasn't true. So why was she saying that?

 “No, but you _have_ chosen him as yours,” she repeated.

 “No, I have _not,_ and what is that even supposed to mean?” he couldn't help asking. That was a weird way of saying two people were together. Lance wasn't some trophy to be _his._

 She gave him a confused look, “But he's your bondmate.”

  _Excuse me? His what what now?_

 It must've showed up on his face how lost he was; Krolia frowned, “You ... don't know what that is, do you?” Keith wished she looked like she was joking, but no she really didn't.

 She shook her head, “Did no one explain this stuff to you? I need to have a talk with Kolivan.”

 Of course no one explained anything to him. The entire explanation he ever got from Kolivan about being galra had been said the first day they found the marmoran base and it was that _he must have galra blood in him._ That was about it. 

 Also more importantly, “What ... _stuff?”_ oh, he was going to regret asking that one, wasn't he? _Bondmate?_ Please don't let it be what he thinks it is. Keith's mind was going to dark places and he blamed it on Shiro's weird collection of manga back at Garrison. 

 Krolia rubbed the back of her head, “Well, how do I explain this? Um, we should probably go sit down somewhere first.”

 Keith nodded reluctantly. He followed her back to the lounge. Thankfully it was empty. They sat down.

 “How do I explain this?” she repeated to herself before looking up, “It's a, well, galra thing. A bondmate, it's ... exactly what it sounds like.”

 Could she be _more_ vague? He raised an eyebrow at her.

 “Sorry, I don't know how to put this, all galra learn about this when they're kids.”

 Keith crossed his arms, _“Yeah?_ Sorry I don't have the normal galra kid education.” His words were sharp enough to cut. He couldn't help it.

 Her expression changed, “I ...” she looked down, taking a breath in. “Okay.” 

 “There's an old galra story about these two lovers; Luna and Karla. It's a long tale about their adventures together and honestly, I do not remember much of it just the ending; Karla ended up angering ... um, what was it? Yeah, Caradoc, the god of love. He cursed them, with a bond. A bond to bound their hearts and souls to one another, to bound their bodies and minds together for as long as time went on. To feel as the other felt. To love as the other loved. But also to hurt as the other hurt. To feel the other's happiness or pain as if their own. To be unable to live without the other. To be part of each other, to complete one another perfectly ... Keith, this is the part where you ask _how_ is that a curse?” she gave him a funny look.

 He might be smiling a little. He just had never had a chance to know about galran culture first hand. It's not like the blade had library on galran _folklore,_ anything they had was either about the empire or the blade itself, and it's not like they sat around a fire every Saturday with Kolivan telling them goodnight stories. The few things Keith _did_ know, he'd heard from Coran. But this was different; to hear about the stories from someone who grew up with them.

 Krolia continued, “The curse is what he did to them after, he cursed Luna with a disease. An incurable one. Karla had to watch her suffer, feel her suffer unable to do anything. To feel her die piece by piece and to die with her just as knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it. And when Luna finally was gone, she had to carry on with her life without her, to never feel the same again, to know the only one she could ever belong with had left her, to never be whole again, to never live again for she had died too.”

 She paused, looking down for a second. “The curse had to carry on after them, so for as long as time shall come the galra are cursed to feel the bond, to suffer as they did ... Or at least that's what my mother told me.”

 Wait ... her _mother?_ she had a mom? Of course she _had_ a mom, she had to come from somewhere but Keith had a grandmother? 

 She was dead, wasn't she?

 Keith deflated a little. Could you even feel sad over someone you hadn't ever thought about before? Apparently he could. He just had always wondered what it was like to have grandparents. He never had met anyone on his dad's side of the family. He met Shiro's grandfather once. He was nice, and at least he liked Keith, which was more than Shiro's parents ever did, but that was understandable on their side.

 He shook his head focusing back on her. He had more important things to worry about right now. She shook her head, “It's clearly just a myth. I never believed it.”

  _Yeah right,_  For someone who claimed they didn't remember much of that or believe it, she really had gotten _into_ the story. She looked like she was reciting it word by word. And with that smile, she looked like she really enjoyed telling it. Keith might've been able to enjoy hearing it more if he wasn't starting to panic. What did all that had to do with him and Lance? Actually scratch that, he _was_ panicking. Those kind of things did not exist in real life. Granted he was part of a team with sentient flying lions who just had killed a ten thousand year old killer purple alien which Keith was one of those but _those_ kind of these didn't exist in real life; magical soulmates or whatever. That was the last thing Keith would ever consider to be real ... oh god, it _was,_ wasn't it? 

 “But yeah, that's what the bondmates are to galra. The person you're connected to, bound to for life.”

 It took him some time to find words again, “And you think that's ... me and Lance? _Lance?”_ She was crazy. _C R A Z Y._

 “Yes.”

 Keith dropped his face to his hands. This was not actually happening. On the list of things he'd expected to hear today that was not one. Or _ever_ for that matter. 

  _“Great,_ How do I get rid of it?”

 She stared at him, “Get ... rid of it?”

 “Yes, this ... this bond or whatever, How do I get rid of it?” he demanded.

 Krolia blinked at him a few times, “You _don't._ It's an unbreakable bond, it's unique, a lifelong connection. And not all galra have a chance to find it.”

 Oh, _perfect_. So not only was he weirdly _and_ for life bonded or mated or whatever to Lance he also had no way of getting rid of it.

 “And Why would you want to, Keith?” Krolia asked, her voice a little softer.

 “Why would I want to?” he threw his hands in the air, “Maybe the fact that I don't want to be lifelongly _magically_ bound to some guy who, who ...”

  _Come on, brain_ , come up with some reason he wouldn't want to be Lance's life partner.

 ...

 Nothing?

 Seriously, _nothing_?

 All his brain did was to count all the reasons he _would_ want to. And boy was there _a lot_ of reasons.

  _Well, screw you brain!_ He'll find a reason on his own. Wait hold on, “Who's probably not even into guys.” he finished.

 Krolia gave him a very unimpressed face, “Really, Keith? Your ... radar can _not_ be that off.”

 Fine, his radar was not _that_ off. Lance wasn't exactly straight. Keith actually hadn't been sure at first, but Lance had made it clear around a few months in their time at the castle. He'd been flirting with some alien which, well, it annoyed Keith—They were supposed to work not flirt around. Yeah, like he believed _that_ was the reason—So he'd took it upon himself to let him he was flirting with a guy. All Lance had done was to shrug, say something like he wasn't picky and continue with his flirting which still annoyed Keith. Well, there had been other times where he'd suspected, _a lot_ of them, but that was the first time he'd known for _sure._  Lance did seem to have a preference for the ladies, though, or really the more prettier things.

 “Fine, he _does_ but he's not into ... me like that.”

 “Oh, wow,” she pinched the bridge of her nose, “You certainly take that from your father. I've never once been that oblivious in my entire life.”

 Was she joking? He jumped up from his seat, “This isn't funny!”

 Krolia tilted her head, looking at him, “You're ... freaked out.”

 Okay, first of all how did she know he was scared and not just angry and second of all _yes,_ yes he was, “Of course I am, you just went on all that stuff about how it's a curse and how they couldn't live without each other and now you're saying me and Lance have that?” You don't just drop a bomb like that on people.

 “That was it, Keith. It's just a _story_ and an over exaggerated one. I mean you don't actually think the god of love cursed us for all eternity, do you?”

 He sent her a glare at her laugh.

 She sat up straighter, “Okay, I might not have done a great job explaining this,” she gestured for him to sit down. He only did so because he needed to know what was going on. It didn't stop him from crossing his arms over his chest.

 “Keith, that's just made up stuff. A bondmate is basically just someone you have a strong connection with. It's not something to be afraid of. It's-it's one of the most sacred things to galra, it had been from the old days. It's our oldest tradition, the galra way.”

 Funny, he'd heard differently, “I thought no feelings was the galra way?”

 Yellow eyes narrowed at him, “I see Kolivan has had his influence on you,” she sighed, her lips thinning to a line after.

 “Keith, I'm really proud of the person you are, the fighter you've become but I wish you had never joined the blade.”

 That was a sudden change in the topic. “But _you're_ a blade?” he questioned. That was a little of hypocrite of her to say that when she was one of them too. Which in hindsight had been an important part of why _he'd_ joined in the first place.

 “Not by choice, I was born to it. I only stayed there because I believe in the cause but I never agreed with their ways or their beliefs, _ever._ The blade might've started at something to help but somewhere along the line we lost our way. We lost sight of,” Keith noticed the look she gave her from the corner of her eyes, “the more important things in life.”

 She stayed silent for a few moments, “Anyway, forming any kind of bonds, having any kind of  bondmates is strictly prohibited in the blade. I'm assuming the only reason Kolivan let you join was because you had already formed it before.”

 “How would Kolivan know ... wait, how do you know?” Could she be wrong? _Yes, thank god_. She probably had made a mistake here, imagining things. There was no weird thing going on here between him and Lance.

 “Oh, his scent is _all_ over you,” she gestured towards him, “It was much weaker back when we were at the blade, but once we got here it became clear. I was a little surprised when you didn't introduce him as your bondmate, but then it became clear he didn't know. But I thought you did. I would've—”

  _Now, back the fuck up,_ “His _scent_?” he cut in, “What do you mean _his scent?_ We hadn't seen each other in months then, how is that even possible? Or at _all,_ why would I have his ... scent? it's not like we ... we're not, we haven't done ... we're friends. _Just_ friends!”

  _“Sure,”_ Krolia made a snort. “And from what I know just being in close distance to each other is enough you don't really have to ... _do_ anything,” another laugh. Can she _not?_ “I think the science was your body will, let's say,  _store_ his scent and releases it when there's no more to store.”

  _Oh_ , so now he was releasing Lance scented pheromones to the universe? This shit was getting weirder and weirder by the second. And Keith was so _so_ done with being a galra. If they found a way to change your DNA tomorrow Keith would be the first one on the list. In fact, in his next life he'd rather be anything but galra, literally _anything,_ even a freaking barnacle would be better. _Far_ less complicated.

 “So I've just been walking around with his scent? So everyone at the blade could ... smell him on me? Everyone who's met me and Lance knows we have a ...” There was no way he was saying _that_ word out loud.

“Yes.”

  _Oh god_ , he covered his eyes with one hand. That's so embarrassing.

 “Keith, it's not something to be ashamed of,” oh, he begged to differ, “And even if bond mates are not aloud at the blade. It is still sacred to us. Once, it was the utmost important thing to the galra.”

 Keith groaned, dropping his face to his hands. He didn't ask for this, _any_ of this. He was just living his life in the desert peacefully, he didn't ask the stupid lion to make him sense its energy, he didn't ask to run into the other guys while saving Shiro, he didn't ask to end up in a castle, he didn't ask to be part of the alien race they were fighting, he didn't ask Lance to be extra nice to him, he didn't ask to form some sort of weird-ass bond with him without even wanting to.

 Specially since they were fine. They had their friendship. It was a _good_ one. And Keith wasn't stupid, he knew there was _more_ than that. He wasn't blind but he also wasn't going to _assume_ anything.

 He'd done that before, gotten his hopes up only for Lance to crash them down. Granted they had just met, well for Keith, and he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions based on a single moment. But he _had,_ for the first time in his life, he had gone optimistic; he'd allowed himself to hope for more—it's not his fault, Lance's smile had been _too_ bright and soft in that moment. After almost two years Keith still wasn't able to get rid of the image. Also how ironic that he'd called it the ‘bonding moment.’ Had he on some unconscious level known ... no, no. _NO—_ and Lance had been very clear to shut it all down. Not to mention he'd spent the entire next day and week flirting with Allura and Nyma. That made it even more clear and didn't that _hurt._ So yeah, he'd decided on letting it go—did not mean his brain, or his _heart,_ had listened to him. If he knew how screwed he was, he wasn't willing to admit it—he was never assuming anything on Lance's behalf _ever_ again. He was not setting himself up for getting hurt.

 And okay, so things _were_ different with him and Lance now. They were much closer. Their fights had turned into bickers about non-important stuff. And about important stuff? Lance almost always was on his side now. But even so he still challenged Keith to do better, be better. They both knew things about each other no one else did. They did spent almost all their time together during the day. And for Keith the night too, because he spent all that time listening to Lance's breathing or his heart and that was _way_ past the friendship level. He had fun whenever he was with Lance, he made him smile in the worst times possible, and he tried to do the same for Lance. Let's face it, he did turn a thousand degrees warmer every time Lance was too close. And more important than all that, Lance was just there, always, Keith didn't even need to ask him, he just _was._

 So yeah, they _were_ closer, that's for sure. He still wasn't going to assume anything. And they were fine, why did she have to go and bring ...

 Wait.

 They were closer. But it _had_ been quite surprising to Keith at first, hadn't it? Back when Shiro had gone missing and Lance had been there for him? Sure, they had been friendly before that but not like that. The amount of support Lance had offered him, It had been unexpected to Keith. What if ...?

 No. Something turned inside him at the thought. _No._  

 “Can it affect Lance?”

 “Affect?” She questioned.

  _“This,_ can it affect him? Make him ... feel something he's not?” he tried his best to hide the shake in his voice.  What if that's why they had gotten closer? What if he somehow imprinted whatever this bond was on Lance? What if Lance had never actually wanted any of that? What if Lance didn't actually care about him? Never had? Lance not caring about him, the thought almost choked him up, he couldn't imagine that. 

 “No, no, it doesn't work like that.” Krolia shook her head quickly. 

 She continued as Keith took a sigh of relief, rubbing his forehead, “And I don't think Lance would appreciate that you're so quick to doubt the fact that he obviously cares about you very much.”

 Keith knew that, of course he _did,_ but he couldn't help questioning it. Not in his current panicky state and sometimes not in his more lonely times. It just felt too good. Not just Lance, everyone at the castle. They did care about him, a lot. Keith had never had something like that before. The number of people who counted him important had never passed one before he'd set foot in space. So he couldn't help but question it sometimes. He couldn't question what would happen if they just stopped. It was a fear, his more deeper down one. To be left alone again. 

 “Keith, it's not some sort of magical force that's gonna force you two to feel anything—”

 “But—”

 she just said other wise.

 She held up her hand, “Okay, I shouldn't have told you the story, clearly you're not taking it very well. Look, the bond doesn't create a connection, the connection between two people, even non-galra ones, creates a bond, and it he has to go both ways. Lancr must've done something, or shown you something for you to choose him.”

 Keith really shouldn't feeling be so relieved.

 “He hasn't and I haven't ... _chosen_ him, either.”

 “You must've.”

 “No, we haven't.”

 “Keith, you must have,” she insisted, “That's the only way the bond can be created.”

 “Well, we haven't. I think I would've remembered if me and Lance had done something to make a ... _bondmate!”_ god, that sounded even weirder out loud. Also, can his face stop getting warmer and warmer? This conversation was not happening.

 “I'm really doing a bad job explaining this, aren't I? I don't know how to talk to you,” she whispered to herself. Keith might be able to understand that part.

 “You don't have to do something like what you're thinking, just caring for each other is _enough._ That's what a bondmate is, I suppose it's just a galra word for caring too much for someone, for saying someone completes you. And it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic. Two friends can be bondmates, I've even seen it happening between siblings. It's just a form of strong connection, you know two people who understand each other very well.”

  _Seriously?_ Couldn't she have started this conversation with that? Before Keith almost had a panic attack about it?

 “I suppose the only difference between the platonic and non-platonic bondmates is the physical stuff,” she continued.

 “Physical stuff?” Keith mentally slapped himself. Why did he keep asking questions he didn't want to know the answer to?

 “Oh, well, let's put it this way, you're more ... _aware_ of them. It can get really intense in ... times.” Was she blushing?

 Wait, so that's why even with his heightened senses, he could sense Lance more than anything and anyone? Without absolutely any control over it? Why Lance was even more bright, more loud, more warm, more lively, more ... well, more Lance than anything in the universe? Oh, great, now _he_ was blushing yet again. He probably hadn't stopped since this conversation started.

 He heard Krolia's chuckle, “See, that's why I really don't think the platonic is the case with you two. But it can be if you want it to be,” she gave him a kind look, “so don't be scared of it.”

 Unfortunately it was a little too late for that. Keith decided that he'd had enough shock for one day, he stood up _before_ she could drop any other bombs on him. “I ... I need to go tell Hunk and Pidge Lance is back.” Yeah, like either of them believed that.

 He turned to leave, but paused, “Don't-don't tell Lance about this.”

 She shook her head with a smile, “I wasn't going to. But _you_ should.”

  _Yeah, no_ _thanks._

 Her voice made him stop by the door, “Keith, don't assume things on others behalf.”

 That's exactly why he wasn't planning on saying anything.

 “You don't know how he'll react and trust me, this isn't something you want to lose.”

 Lance had reacted fine to pretty much any of Keith’s galran heritage ... _side effects_ , even things Keith absolutely disliked and was freaked out about. But there was no guarantee how he would react to _this._ There was a line to things anyone was okay with and Keith didn't want to know what would happen if they passed that line. But he was sure he couldn't risk losing him.

 He looked back at her, “My ... my dad?”

 “Yeah,” she nodded with a sad smile, “I've had other ... relationships after him but ... it's nothing even close to that.”

 “Oh.” was all he said before he left the room.

 He needed to go somewhere think about this, or perhaps _not_ think about it. Just put all that in a box in some dusty corner of his mind, and never ever ever open it.

 Going to the training room was out of the question, he could run into Lance and he had _no_ idea how to deal with him right now, and he would probably turn redder than their lion. He just ended up in his room, lying on his bed drilling holes into the ceiling with his eyes. Questioning his existence and his luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think I was gonna let anything happpen to the sunshine baby, did ya? I would _never_ do that ... _;)_
> 
> Bet this chapter took an unexpected turn to what you were thinking. Look, I said it's slow burn, I never said they didn't have feeling for each other or _know_ that they do. I mean have you seen the looks Keith gives Lance in canon? That boy is in deep and he knows it. He might be resisting it, he might be fighting it, but he _knows_ it. The same goes for this story.
> 
> And I kinda need opinions on the bond thingy. I went so many times back and forth about putting it here. And I tried my best to keep it the least weird possible, I don't wanna undermine their relationship because of it. So yeah, tell me what you think. I've decided I'm adding this to the list of chapters I don't like.
> 
> Heads up, Keith is _not_ gonna hadle this very well. (That moment when you're just trying to live in peace with your not yet boyfriend but your alien mom has to go and make it all weird.)
> 
> (Also I just noticed the character names in the story kinda match with Lance and Keith and I didn't even realise that till now. Apparently Klance owns my brain, conscious and unconscious parts of it.)


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the opinions on last chapter :)

 In the end Keith decided on ignoring everything he'd heard in his conversation with Krolia. Because honestly, he had no idea what else to do with all _that._ He and Lance cared about each other that was enough for him. He'd been living his life fine without knowledge of bondmates so far, and he'll live the rest of it pretending it didn't exist just as fine.

 At least he tried to convince himself of that. And to convince himself he wasn't on some level scared of that. If he really believed himself it did not explain why he stayed in his room the rest of the day, nor why he ended up skipping dinner.

  _Nor_ why he bit his lip nervously when he heard Lance finally come back to his room next door. He heard the steps, heard him flumping sown on his bed, heard the sigh, heard him talking.

 “Hey, you okay?”

 It took Keith some time to find his voice, “Aren't you the one injured?”

 “Yes, exactly, I'm injured. What kind of friend are you? you should be at my side nursing my _excessive_ injury and gush about my heroic actions in the battle field, instead you were missing all evening.”

 When Keith didn't answer immediately he continued, “I'm _joking,_ Keith. But you _were_ missing, so you okay?”

 “Yeah, I'm fine.”

 “Hmm, not sure I believe that.”

 Keith heard him shuffling in his bed, probably facing the wall, so did Keith. Yet, instead of answering Keith said, “How's your arm?”

 “There's nothing wrong with my arm. It's all _right_ now.”

 That was the single lamest pun Keith had ever heard, it did not keep him from making a small laugh.

 “Come on, that was funny. Give me a real laugh.”

 “Yeah, it really wasn't.”

 “Yeah? Well, bet you're smiling anyway.”

 Did he have to sound _that_ proud of making Keith smile? Was that really that important to him? Keith knew it was, but _was_ it?

 “Thanks,” Keith said after some time.

 “For?”

 “Saving Krolia.” Keith might not be that close to her, and currently _very_ pissed at her, but he knew he wasn't ready to lose her either. He just found her.

 “Told you, it's nothing. Anyone would've done the same,” Keith knew he believed that, Keith also had met enough people to know it wasn't true.

 “And I'm not letting anything happen to your family.”

 Did he had to sound like _that?_ Like protecting Keith's family was his absolute job the universe. Keith pushed his face to the pillow, silencing his groan so Lance wouldn't hear it.

 “She's not ...” Keith took a breath in. This was harder to say than Keith had thought. “She's not my ... _only_ family, Lance.” Oh, god please let him understand what Keith was saying. Lance was usually good at reading between the lines, but he could also be really dumb about it.

 There was a small gasp, followed by moments of silence, “You-you count me as family?”

 Did his heart _have_ to go that fast?

 “You sound surprised?”

 “I, I _am,”_ Lance whispered. “I mean I count you as family. I count everyone here as family, and I know you do too. But I never thought, I thought we had to go at least a thousand years before you would _say_ it.”

 Believe it or not, so did Keith. “You-they are. They're ... the only one I have. I guess it's a small family to all yours, but yeah, you are.”

 Yet sometimes he wanted to run away from them. If you ran from something, if you got rid of it first, then you didn't have to worry about losing it, right?

 “Keith, that's so ...” Lance paused, “You know what? We're having a movie night.”

 Keith felt his eyebrows shot up; that just came out of nowhere. “What?”

 “You heard me, we're having a movie night.”

  _“Now?”_

 “Yes!”

 “It's the middle of the night, Lance.”

 “It's eleven o'clock, grandpa.”

 “Lance, I'm not sure now's the time, I’m I'm not ...” he trailed off.

 “Come on, mullet. I wanna show you something.”

 “I don't know,” It was one thing to talk to him, it was another to see him. Keith wasn't sure he could deal with that right now.

 “But you have to see this,” before Keith could protest he went on, voice gentler, “And you don't sound very okay, I just wanna make sure you _are_ ... Come on, _please?”_

 How could he do that? How could he convey puppy-dog eyes through his _voice?_ That didn't seem like it should be possible.

 “I ... okay.”

 “Yes!” there was a clapping sound, “Get in here.”

 Keith thinking about how much of a weak man he was stood up from his bed. By the time he readied himself and entered Lance’s room, Lance was already gone. There was a folded blanket and on top of it a note, sitting on his bed;

 **‘Gone to get the gang**  
**Be a doll, and lay this at the foot of my bed’**

 And then there was a doodle of a ... Keith doll. He really should stop with the doodles, he was _not_ good at it. Also who even said _that_ anymore? Lance could be so weird sometimes. Keith fought the smile, he really did.

 He had just finished spreading the blanket on the floor, sitting back on the bed when the door slid open Allura walking in.

 “Lance is this really necessary? We came back from a mission, I'm tired.”

 “Yes,” Lance answered pushing Hunk, who was in yellow pyjamas carrying a big box of popcorn, inside the room with one hand, his other around Pidge's neck in a headlock. Her efforts of getting out of it to no avail.

 “Let me go, you tall annoying tree, I was in middle of work.”

 “No can do, no one skips movie night.”

 With all Pidge's complains she made no attempts of leaving the room, instead making her way with the rest two to Lance's bed. They were stopped by Lance's hand, “Uh-uh, _not_ a chance, on the floor you go.”

 Oh, that explained the blanket.

 “What?” Hunk complained.

 “Yeah, Like I'm gonna let you group of uncultured vulgar baboons back to my bed after what happened last time.”

 Keith bit back a laugh as Allura indignantly repeated the words she'd been called. Lance really did say the weirdest stuff. It was weirdly calming and at the same time the fact that he could be so easily calming to Keith was also scaring him.

  _“Yeah,_ you heard me right,” Lance narrowed his eyes the three, “I kept finding popcorns all over my bed for days after our last movie night. I woke up with one in my ear after three weeks. Inside my ear. Where did it come from? How did it get there? So _yes,_ down to the floor you go.”

 “Then how come Keith gets to be on your bed?” Allura pointed to him, she looked very offended.

 Lance turned back to look at him, a smile taking over his face, “Hey, Keith,” he did a small wave with his hand.

 Did he have to smile _that_ bright?

 “First of all, I was about to kick his ass to the floor too. And second of all, _Keith_ gets to be on my bed because _Keith_ has manners,” Lance looked at him, “You have manners, right?”

 “Uh,” _stop it,_ “I have manners,” he confirmed.

 “See.” Lance gestured towards the floor.

 Hunk and Allura just sat down in front of the bed, but Pidge, she was not going down without a fight, or well, a comment.

 “Of course you're gonna let Keith to your bed, why are we even questioning it? You probably dream about having Keith on your bed.” She muttered as she took a seat on the other side of hunk, so he was in the middle.

 Oh, no, if there was one thing Keith couldn't deal with right now was her comments. He dipped his head low so no one could see it was warming up as he crouched to the floor to sit next to Allura.

 Lance scoffed, “That's first strike, Pidge, get three and I'm gonna kick you out of movie night.”

 “You _literally_ dragged me in here.”

 “And I will _literally_ drag you _out_ of here.” Lance said turning on his ... wall. Keith's eyes rounded a little at the new screen. So apparently that was a thing now.

 “What are we watching?” Hunk asked. He already had started with the popcorns.

 Lance did a small pause, looking at Keith with a lopsided smile, “Lilo and Stitch.”

 Lance’s words was followed by immediate groans from the others.

 “Oh my god, _Again?_ We've already watched it like twenty times,” Hunk complained.

 “Hunk! Don't betray me on my favourite movie,” Lance pointed a finger towards him, “And we only have like thirty movies to watch up here thanks to _somebody's_ short collection,” he sent a look to pidge.

 She threw up her hands in the air, “How was I supposed to know I was gonna get sent to space with a bunch of losers and I should stash as much movies as possible on my laptop, I had more important stuff to use the space for.”

 “Like what?”

 “I don't know? Text books, homework?”

 At the simultaneous snorts she held up a hand, “Yeah, no, I _heard_ it myself. No comments.”

 “Alright, here we go.” Lance finally set up the movie.

 Keith had left some space between himself and Allura. It wasn't that much but Lance managed to scooch himself between them.

 “Must you?” Allura told him, pointing to the free space next to Keith where he could've taken his seat.

 “Yes, I _must._ Everyone needs a fair share of all this,” he pointed to himself, “And besides edgy Mc edgelord over here,” Lance gave Keith a small nudge, “likes to have his space.”

 Can he not be that sweet while sitting that close to Keith?

 He didn't know what expression Allura showed, whatever it was made Lance say, “Not a word,” before playing the movie.

 He didn't say anything when Keith added a little bit of space between them. Just looked at the new space between them before looking back at the screen. Look, Lance was just too warm and too close, and Keith would've normally just enjoyed the contact but right now he was on edge.

 

  _Wow,_ Keith thought as the logo started. The image looked ancient. He wasn't even sure they made 2D animation anymore. Probably not. How old was this? “How old is this thing?”

 “Just a couple centuries,” Lance shrugged. He noticed Keith's rounded eyes, “What? it ain't older than your mullet. In fact, at least a couple decades younger.”

 “Why is it _always_ about my hair?” Keith couldn't help asking, “We can talk about anything and you'll bring it back to my hair.”

 Lance opened his mouth to answer but Pidge beat him into it leaning forward to look at Keith with a smirk, “Keith, don't you know by now? It's cause he's obsessed with it.”

 “I am not obsessed, you damn quiznacking gremlin!” Lance shrieked at her.

 He made a small laugh after, “Wow, you have no idea how good it feels to curse without you immediately being on my ass about it Shi—” he looked around with a hunted look on his face, “—ro.”

 Lancw smacked his forehead, “Oh crap, I can't believe I forgot to tell Shiro.”

 He was already moving to get up when Allura pulled him back by his hand, “Sit back down. I think we're fine without him.”

 “What, no? We can't have a movie night without Shiro. It's Shiro.” Lance protested.

  _“Let's._ I'm still upset at him about this morning,” Allura answered, a frown on her face.

 “Allura, it's _Shiro.”_

 “Look, he probably won't come anyway,” Pidge muttered. Keith didn't need to look to know she was frowning too.

 “But ...” Lance trailed off, instead looking to Keith. From the little eyebrow raise he could tell Lance was asking for his opinion.

 Well, if Keith hadn't had ... other things to deal with today, he would've been worrying about the way Shiro had acted this morning.

 “Yeah, he probably won't,” Keith admitted reluctantly.

 “Oh,” Lance deflated. “well, I still need to take a trip to kitchen. We need more popcorn.” He added, getting up.

 “Um, Lance?” Allura questioned pointing to the rather big box sitting in Hunk's lap.

 “Yeah, Hunk'll get to the bottom of that, in like twenty minutes.”

  _“Hey!”_

 “Sorry man, you know it's true.”

 Hunk shrugged, “It's true I can do it in five though.”

 “Be right back.” Lance said walking out of the room. Keith busied himself with the movie.

 Lance was back in a few minutes. Though as soon as he stepped inside he looked at the screen. He placed both hands on his hips, frowning at them, “You watched it without me?”

 “Just a few minutes, you big baby,” Allura said, a smile to her tone.

 “Nuh-uh, you don't watch _my_ movie in _my_ room in _my_ movie night without _me.”_

 The protesting sigh of the others went unacknowledged by him as he replayed the movie from the start, taking back his original seat.

 “What happened to the popcorn?” Keith whisper-asked.

 “What?” Lance turned to look at him with a lost look on his face.

 Keith raised an eyebrow, “You went to get extra popcorn?” Lance had come back pretty empty handed. Keith couldn't say he was that surprised.

 “Oh,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “I ...”

 “You went to get Shiro,” Keith stated.

 Lance gave him an apologetic look with a shrug, “Yeah.”

 “So?”

 “He, he has more important things to do than to watch cartoons with us,” Lance looked down.

 Of course Shiro did. Weird, because bonding—look, there goes another word Keith was never looking at the same again _—spending_ time with each other is the most important thing to the team, Keith.

 “Here you come,” Lance whispered to him, drawing him out of the thought.

 What? Keith looked at the screen ... _seriously?_ He was the out of control blue alien?

 “Thanks,” he whispered back, sending a glare to Lance.

 The boy did a small laugh, “Hey now, don't judge him, yet.” He pointed a finger to Keith's face. “And don't you dare fall sleep during this, Keith. I will never talk to you again if you do.”

 Keith rolled his eyes. He'd fell sleep one time during movie nights and now Lance never let go of it.

 He found his eyes roaming back to Lance as the movie went on, he couldn't help it. Lance was wording everything that went on the movie. He looked so excited, how could he get so excited about the smallest stuff? His eyes had that sparkle in them and ... _can you stop staring?_

 Damn it, this was all Krolia's fault. Now instead of enjoying his time with others he was over analysing everything he did, or Lance did. Why did she had to say all that? They were fine, they were doing things their way. Now, he was worried about everything he did. He was _freaking out._ He didn't like it. This is exactly why he didn't like feelings, _any_ kinds of them, he didn't know what to do them, or how to work them.

 He told himself to stop staring didn't mean he did. Which is why he noticed when Lance's eyes started going heavy. _Really?_ he just threatened Keith not to, but he was falling sleep? His head lolled back to the bed as his eyes fully closed. Yet, It didn’t stay there, moving slowly to the side, bit by bit. Even seeing it coming did not keep Keith from going stiff when Lance's head finally fell to his shoulder.

 He reached with his hand to wake the other boy up. He stopped himself, though. Lance had been on that mission for hours, and then his hand. He must be tired. Keith was just being overly self-conscious right now and he really needed to stop. So weird or not, Keith decided on letting him be there, his hair tickling the side of his face, blueberry taking his world.

 But then Lance had to start drooling on his shoulder. Keith held back his smile, he was just so ... _Lance._ He should feel different after _that_ revelation, but he was just Lance. Keith really should stop overthinking this, or panicking about it. He should, but _could_ he?

 Eventually his shirt was getting really damp so he placed his hand on Lance's shoulder, shaking, “Lance?”

 As soon as Lance's eyes jumped open, he leaped forward, “What? What? Are we under attack?” he said in a rush half way getting up.

 Keith laughed, so did the other three, “You fell sleep. I woke you up.”

 Lance gave him an incredulous look, “You mean you gave me a _heart attack?”_ he put a hand on his chest. _oh, come on,_  Keith had done that pretty gently. “What the hell, Keith?”

 “You were drooling on me,” Keith defended, pointing to the not so small wet dot on his shoulder.

 The answer he got was a snicker and not from Lance, “Well, that's certainly a change from drooling _for_ you,” Pidge wiggled her eyebrows.

 “Second strike, Pidge,” Lance squinted at her.

 He settled back to his place, “Next time let me sleep, man.”

 Next time? How many times was he planning on sleeping on Keith's shoulder?

 Lance pouted at the screen, “Aw, I can't believe I missed all the good parts.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next go together so I'm gonna post it as soon as I'm done editing it :)


	39. Chapter 39

 It was a few minutes later when Lance reached for his arm. Keith was paying attention to the movie, but he saw the action from the corner of his eyes. He wasn't sure why but he drew his hands back before Lance's could reach them. Lance retracted his hand immediately, looking up at Keith with slightly rounded eyes, “Uh, sorry. I just wanted to say this is the part I wanted to show you.” He pointed to the screen.

 Keith could see the small frown he was trying to hide. _Damn it, stop it, Keith_. He told himself. He shook his head at himself, returning his attention to the movie; the council in the movie were taking Stitch away. It was an upsetting scene. Why would Lance want to show him this? As if he wasn't having enough trouble already.

 The answer became clear in a second, by the words said; 

 **“This is my family.**  
**I found it all on my own.**  
**It's little and broken...**  
**but still good.**  
**Yeah. Still good.”**

 Oh, _oh._   _That's_ why, because of Keith's earlier words.

 Keith turned to look at him but Lance was already looking at him with a too soft smile, “Yeah, so O’hana. Nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” His eyes looked at Keith like they were looking into his soul, trying to get the message there.

 “Wow, that sounded so cheesy.” He admitted after a second.

 “You're ridiculous,” Keith might be shaking his head, he might be covering his eyes with one hand but behind that? he wasn't sure he wanted to laugh or cry. How did Lance even know he needed to hear something like that right now?

 The sniffing sound didn't come from him. He leaned forward to look at Allura, “Are you ... crying?” 

 “Yeah, this part gets her every time,” Hunk answered for her, patting her back.

  _“What?”_ Keith questioned. He just founded that a little hard to believe, she wasn't exactly the weeping type.

 She sent him a half glare, “What, I'm not allowed to have feelings?” she said returning her face to Hunk's arm. 

 Lance laughed, sharing a look with Keith as they both shrugged and turned back to watching the movie.

 

 Lance stretched a little once the movie was over, turning to Keith, “So, what did you think of that, Stitch? Was that the greatest movie of all time, or was it?” 

 Keith shrugged a shoulder, “I guess it was fi—” _wait_ , did he just call Keith ...? Keith frowned, “No.” 

 Lance's grin told him he knew exactly what he was referring to, “Oh, _yes.”_

 Keith _knew_ that look, _“No.”_ He pointed a threatening finger.

 “Yes.” 

 “No.” 

  _“Yes.”_

They both turned to look at Allura who'd said the last ‘yes’, “What are we fighting about?” she asked.

 Keith returned his eyes back to Lance, “You're _not_ nicknaming me after that,” he pointed to the screen, “that _thing.”_ That was just not getting added to Lance's long stack of nicknames for him.

 “ _That thing_? Oh, you do not insult Stitch,” Lance said,  sounding very offended about it, “He's my favourite character growing up. I always wanted to find a Stitch of my own.” 

  _“Oh._ Well, that explains this,” Pidge pointed between him and Lance.

 Lance picked one of the few popcorns left, throwing it at her face. She dodged, sticking her tongue out at him.

 Lance shook his head, looking back at Keith, “And why _not?_ You're just like each other. Part of blue aliens—”

 “Galra are _purple.”_

 Lance rolled his eyes at Hunk, raising his fingers to count as he looked at Keith, “Part of blue- _ish_ aliens? Check. Pain in the ass trouble maker? Yup. Mean on the outside? Check. Sweet on the inside? Hell yeah. Kinda cute?” he tilted his head looking at Keith with a smile, “Definitely yes. Yeah, I'm nicknaming you Stitch.” 

 Keith was _not_ internally turning to a puddle just because Lance called him cute. He wasn't. That was just not him. 

 “Fine, then I'm nicknaming you Lilo,” he threatened. He should've known it wouldn't work.

 Lance shrugged, “Fine by me. Did you see that girl? She's badass.” 

  _Ugh,_ there was no winning with him, was there?

 “Well, that's another movie you two ruined for me with your disgustingness.” Pidge said.

 Can she stop already?

 Lance picked another popcorn. This time he hit the target perfectly; center of Pidge's forehead. “Shove it where the sun doesn't shine.” He stuck his tongue out at her this time.

 Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, looking at him with a smirk, “We're in space, Lance. The sun doesn't shine anywhere.” 

 Lance threw up his hands in the air, “Do you want me to shove it for you? because I will.” Oh, Keith would help.

 Pidge’s smirk went wider as she opened her mouth and Keith feared what she was gonna say. Thankfully he never had to know.

 “Children, children stop,” Allura held up her hands between the two, huffing a laugh. “Besides, I think Lance is more of that David guy.” 

 Keith crossed his arms, “What? _No,_ he's definitely Lilo.” 

 “No, he's _definitely_ David. think about it—” 

 He didn't get to hear her reasoning which he wasn't planning to either.

 “Actually, he's neither,” Hunk meddled in, “They had a perfect Lance persona in one of the later Disney movies.” He looked at Lance with a teasing smile. Keith could tell there was an inside joke there.

 “I know you meant that as an offense,” Lance sent him a half glare. No one could ever actually fully glare at Hunk. “but I'm gonna let it go, cause I have zero problems with being Maui. That guy was a demigod. I mean he could turn into whatever animal he want—” he interrupted himself, clapping his hands.

 He turned to Keith with a grin, “Ha, found another one; you and Stitch kinda both look like cats. Space cats.”

 This again?

 Keith gave him a blank face, “I do _not_ look like a cat.” 

 Lance leaned in a little closer, with that grin, “I mean you're grumpy enough to be one.” 

 “I'm not grumpy.” 

 “He said _grumpily.”_

 _Ugh!_ Krolia was crazy, the only thing Lance was to him was a source of frustration.

 “I am _not_ grumpy!” He punched Lance's arms, letting out some of that frustration, and everything else he'd dealt with since this morning. So technically it wasn't an actual punch, not even close, yet ...

  _“Ow!”_ Lance rubbed on his arm with his other hand, “Keith, don't hit an injured man in his wound.” 

 Crap, his _arm._ Keith's inside turned at the pained expression on Lance's face. His hand went to cover his mouth, “Shit, Lance, I'm sorry. I didn't—” 

 Hold on a second. _That_ wasn't his injured arm. It was the other one. _That little shit!_

 A shit-eating grin took over Lance's face, “Gotcha, yet again.” 

 “You ... _ugh!”_

 Lance had already flown out of his reach, taking cover behind a laughing Allura. Keith sent him an even more deadly glare. He had to get out of there some time.

 “Dude, you have a death wish,” Hunk told Lance.

 “Maybe a little,” Lance shrugged a shoulder, giving Keith more of a smile less of a grin, “I suppose it depends on who's doing the killing.” 

 Did he have to look that ... adorable when Keith was trying to be pissed at him? Like was it really a necessity to the universe? Or Did the universe just really like fucking with Keith that much?

 “You have _weird_ wishes, man,” Hunk shook his head, laughing.

 “Oh, his weird wishes are _nothing_ compared to his weird dreams.” 

 There was a few moments of silence where Lance turned to the smirking Pidge, narrowing his eyes at her. A quiet conversation seemed to pass between them before Lance finally said, “Pidge, shut your quiznack.” 

  _He still has not learned how to use that correctly?_

 “You sure you wanna take that tone with me, Lance? I remember details. _Details.”_ She emphasized.

 Lance crossed his arms over his chest. Were his ears getting red? “No way you remember, that was like four months ago.” 

 “Oh, a Pidgeon never forgets. And just in case, I wrote it all down.” 

_“Wrote it down?!”_

 Lance's yell was very high toned. It made Keith's ear ring, and he couldn't help flinching just a little. 

 Lance turned to look at him for a second, “Sorry.”

  _What?_ How did he even notice when all his attention was on Pidge?

 Lance lowered his voice—seriously how could he tell?—as he went on, “Wrote it down? You weren't even supposed to hear it. I was talking to Hunk, _privately._ It's not very nice to eavesdrop, Pidge.” 

 “Hey, Hunk does that to me _all_ the time,” Pidge protested, pointing to the said boy who looked like he was seriously fighting his laughter, “I was just trying to get back at him,” the grin she gave Lance then was a spitting image of evil, “I had no idea I was gonna find gold on you. _So much_ gold. I mean you were _descriptive,_ ma _n,_  painted quite the picture. I have images in my head I can _never ever_ forget now.” 

 “Same,” Hunk said.

 Lance dropped his face to his hands, or perhaps he was hiding it in them, cause his ears were _really_ getting red now, “I can't help what I dream about,” his voice was muffled by his hands and something else Keith couldn't exactly decipher. “And I was trying to find out what it meant.” He added. 

 “Oh, I think it's very _clear_ what it meant.” Pidge snorted. Hunk wasn't even hiding his laugh anymore.

 “Pidge, I swear if you don't shut up—” 

 “You sure you wanna finish that threat, Lance?” she cut in.

 Lance let go of his face, glowering at her, “Yes, one word and I will blow your entire lab up to pieces.” 

 “You _wouldn't.”_

 “Oh, I _would,_ all your little projects gone away. I might just throw in Rover 2.0 prototype in there too.” Lance said darkly.

 Pidge made a gasp but then waved her hand dismissively, _“Pfft,_ you have no way of blowing up my lab.” 

 “ _I_ might not,” Lance admitted, “but I bet Coran does.” 

 “Coran would never blow up his precious castle,” at Allura's clearing her throat, Pidge corrected, “Coran would never blow up _her_ precious castle.” 

 “I'm sorry, I hate to pull this card but _which_ one of us is his favourite?” Lance gestured between himself and Pidge.

 “Allura.” 

 “Fair enough,” Lance nodded to the side, before rising a rather victorious eyebrow at Pidge, “but after her?”

  _“You.”_ She admitted reluctantly.

 “Fine, I'm not saying. But if I'm gonna deprive myself from that kinda fun you're gonna owe me. You're gonna owe me big. You're gonna owe me like twenty times,” her smirk turned more evil, “or well more like sixt—” 

 She didn't get to end that sentence before Lance had tackled her to her ground, stuffing the remaining of the popcorns to her mouth. She seemed too busy laughing to care.

 “You are a very bad person, Pidge. I'm gonna murder you, I'm gonna murder you in your sleep and I won't even _try_ and make it look like a suicide,” he threatened. His face was very red. 

 “Oh, will you relax? I'm not gonna say anything. I'm not that evil. And I bet these idiots have no idea what I'm talking about.” She said once she was done laughing, pointing to the three of them.

 “Well, I mean _I_ do, Lance told me the dream so,” Hunk said.

 Allura leaned back, smirking, “Oh, I can guess what it was about.” 

 Four heads turned to look at Keith. He just shrugged, “Should I know?” How was he supposed to know what someone else dreamed about? He didn't even remember his own dreams. Though he was curious about what was going on here.

 “See, everything's fine,” Pidge said, sitting up as Lance let him.

 He sent her a glare anyway, “That's still you're third strike. you're out.” He pouted

 She responded with a grin, “Well, the movie is over so I was gonna leave anyway.” 

 They talked, bickered, for half an hour more before Lance kicked them out.

 “Move.” he told Keith pointing to the floor.

 After he did, Lance folded up the blanket and all the things on it, _“Voilà,_ that's how you clean up a mess like magic.” 

 Keith refrained from telling him that most of that mess was made by his _own_ manoeuvre on Pidge, as he took a seat on the bed. 

 Lance took the blanket back to the bathroom, probably putting it in the laundry basket. He looked at Keith when he returned, “Oh, you're still here.” 

 Keith raised a shoulder, “Well, yeah?” 

 “Okay,” Lance smiled ... _smirked._ He rested his hand on his hip, leaning it his hip the side, “So, just to be clear, you planning on leaving at some point, or you just gonna _spend_ the night here?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

 What if Keith gave him a real answer? they could see who would be wiggling their eyebrows _then._

 Keith jumped up at his own thought. “No, I'm leaving.” Can his voice not crack? Lance was just joking. He started walking before Lance could see his face.

 “Your loss, man.” Lance called after him laughing.

 Oh, he knew. 

  _Stop it,_ he yelled at his brain. This was all Krolia's fault. Technically Keith had asked her, but it was _her_ fault.

 He was almost out the door but something kept him from taking the last step, he turned to the side, “Lance, thanks for saving Krolia, but I'm ... I'm really glad nothing happened to you. Well, nothing serious.” He had to say that. He really had been scared this morning. He was also scared that he was that scared.

 “Oh, I could _tell_ you were glad with the way you barged in there.” 

 There was no mockery behind the words, just a soft smile on his face. There was no reason for Keith to get defensive but he got anyway, “It's not _my_ fault. Shiro told me you got shot without telling me it was nothing.” 

 “Oh,” Lance whispered.

 “Did he, did he really get mad at you for shooting?” Allura's words had stayed with him.

 “Yeah,” Lance looked down. His shoulders did a small drop. There was something about the posture that made Keith want to go hug him. He didn't, until further notice his brain and judgement weren't exactly trust worthy. But he _wanted_ to.

 Of course the expression was quick to vanish, “I mean technically he _did_ tell me not to specifically and I did anyway, so I guess he had a right to.” 

 A right to blaming him for firing to defend himself and Krolia?

 “No. No, he didn't,” Keith shook his head. What was going on with him? Keith should stop spending time worrying about ... _this_ and start thinking about that.

 He could tell Lance was about to protest so he just said, “Anyway, good night.” He walked out the door hearing Lance say ‘ _Good night._ ’ Back after a few seconds.

 

 Keith was safely secured in his bed, some time passing before Lance spoke to him, “Hey, Keith?” 

 “Yeah?” Keith asked.

 “You had fun tonight, right?” 

 “Um, yeah?” 

 “I had fun too,” Lance whispered. He continued after a second, “We had a ton of movie nights when you were ... gone but it was never this fun. Not even close.” 

 “Okay?” Keith half answered half questioned. Where was Lance going with this?

 It took Lance some time to speak again, or whisper, “I wish you wouldn't go back.” 

 “What?” 

 “I wish you wouldn't go back to the blade.” 

 When Keith didn't say anything he continued his voice was barely audible, _even_ to Keith, “It's just, when you were gone, it felt like ... I mean I knew I missed you but it felt like, it felt like I was also missing some part of ... me? And it took me some time to realize that it was ...” he trailed off, taking a sigh, “It's just nothing is as fun without you, but-but I could tell it was for the others and I just, I felt ... lonely, yeah, I-I felt lonely. When you're not here, I'm _lonely._ So I really wish you wouldn't go back.” 

 “Is that selfish? Is that selfish of me to ask you that?” 

 Keith didn't say anything, he didn't know what to say. The only answer he had to that was he was going to go _anyway_ because he couldn't stay. There was no point in him staying, he wasn't a paladin anymore he didn't have a lion. And he wasn't one to just sit and do nothing. So one day or another he was going to leave. No matter how much he wanted to stay, he _couldn't._

 So, he didn't say anything, just lying there listening to Lance's heart. He'd tried to stop that, to take control over his hearing, but he couldn't. And it wasn't like he wanted to hear that heartbeat right now, not when it was beating like _that;_  that fast way he'd come to associate with when Lance was upset. To know he was sad because of Keith, and also to know there was nothing he could do to help.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I pulled a _O'hana_ in this. Well, what can I say? I absolutely love Lilo and Stitch. It's like a hundred times better than Moana and you can fight me on this but you won't be able to change my mind.
> 
> Keith's gay pining ass is turning more pining with each chapter even when he's fighting it. Give in to the dark side, Keith, we have knives here ... and Lance ;)
> 
> And come on, I _had_ to mention the _‘void’_ (Bless Jeremy for that one.)
> 
> So I probably won't post tomorrow because of obvious reasons. I can't believe there's only ten hours left :) I'm _so_ excited and _so_ scared ... I need to get a life.


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! Sorry for not posting for a while.   
> Thank you for 500 kudos! :)

 The two of them spent the next morning in the training room, per usual. Keith had suggested they take it easy for that day because of Lance's injury but Lance had simply rolled his eyes. ‘I told you it's nothing, it's just a ... _stitch_.’ He'd giggled even at Keith's glare.

 Keith wished he could say his reasons for suggesting that had been completely for Lance's sake but they hadn't. The two of them had been taking a different route in the close combat training. The bots just seemed too easy for Lance any more—seriously, that boy could do anything if he actually put effort in doing it ... _getting kinda side tracked, Keith_ —so, Keith had suggested they do one on ones. It seemed like such a great idea at the time. And Lance had improved much faster but at the current moment Keith just didn't think it was the best idea.

 He was also really pissed at himself, and Krolia, for thinking that, he was acting out of the ordinary. Lance was noticing it pretty quick. He'd already asked him if everything was alright twice that morning.

 Yet, when Lance finished one of his training levels, turning to Keith and suggesting they start their one on one, Keith was a little hesitant.

 It resulted in Lance sighing, looking at the ceiling, “Oh my god, I swear if this is about my hand again, I'm gonna throw you out of the room.”

“No, no, I ...” Keith trailed off.

 Lance raised an eyebrow at him, “What?”

 “Don't tell me you're afraid I'm gonna beat you?” he added in a rather challenging tone.

 Keith narrowed his eyes at him, crossing his arms, “We've been doing this for like two weeks now, and you haven't won a _single_ battle.”

 “There's a first for everything,” Lance said activating his bayard. “Come on, Kogane. You're not chickening out on me, are you? Cause I'm gonna need that defeat written and signed so I can accept it.” He smirked.

 He was goading him into it. Keith was aware of that, why was it still working?

 “Not in a million years,” Keith took his blade in his hand, gesturing for Lance to come at him.

 

 Lance ended up on his ass on the floor in less than a few minutes.

 It was Keith's turn to smirk, “Who's defeat were you talking about again?”

 But Lance was just looking up at him with the biggest smile and excited eyes. Keith groaned internally. Since when did he look that excited about losing?

“Mullet, that last move was so cool? I'm definitely trying it,” he said, getting up.

 

 Lance lost again and again for the god knows how many times. He wasn't a bad fighter. Far from it, he was actually a great one by this point—Keith found himself just watching the way the other trained around the deck quite a lot, there was something so unexpected and exciting about the way he fought—And yes, Keith might be struggling a little to keep up with him. But Keith _did_ have the upper hand here. He'd been doing this for far longer. And Lance might be fast and more flexible—that one had actually been quite a surprise to Keith when they started training together. He'd definitely had done his fair share of staring, _gawking,_ at the impossible dodges and jumps at the bots Lance. Keith even swore he'd done at least a couple of perfect splits while fighting. Now those were the times were physically couldn't look away ... _stop getting side tracked!_ —so Lance was faster than average but Keith was _much_ faster. He also had more experience and maybe a little bit of more strength.

 So he might be smirking a little, “Had enough? Cause I'll be accepting _your_ defeat now.” he raised his eyebrow at Lance.

 Lance started circling around the deck in parallel to his movement, “No way!” Jesus, how much energy did that boy have? Wasn't he tired of ending up on his ass? This was like the ninth? tenth? round he'd lost today.

 Keith shrugged gesturing at him with his hand.

 Lance looked ready to move but then paused in his steps. He frowned, “Why do you always make me attack you?”

 “To help you get better at charging?”

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, “You sure? This seems like it's giving you an advantage.”

“Sure Lance. That's why you end up losing every time.” Look, Lance was the one who goad him into it in the first time, alright?

 Lance just made a face at him. “This time you charge at me and we'll see about it,” he must've seen Keith was about to protest because he continued, “What? Scared I'm gonna officially kick your ass in your turf if you do?” he wiggled his eyebrows, doing a small spin with his sword in his hand. Keith momentarily got distracted. Seriously, he taught Lance that _himself,_ why was he getting impressed by it?

 “Fine, we'll see about it,” he accepted. This _was_ his turf, and that wasn't happening.

 Boy, was he wrong.

 Lance made a _come_ gesture with his hand, “Well? Come on, Keithy, we don't have all day,” he winked.

 Keith scoffed. Lance just _had_ to, didn't he? The voice that escaped his mouth was far too close to a growl for his comfort.

 He was running forward in less than a second. The problem with fighting Lance was unlike any opponent Keith had ever had, there was no point in trying to anticipate how Lance was gonna fend, because Lance did every move randomly. Keith was pretty sure half of the time he himself didn't know either. He seemed to just go with his guts. So instead of thinking forward, Keith always watched his movement, reacting to them. He was faster so it worked.

 The sounds of their swords clashing together rang through the training room. Attack, dodge, fend, spin, attack, it was all a familiar rhythm at this point. A push and pull between them. And yeah, Keith liked fighting with Lance. It was a challenge that Keith enjoyed. Though he wasn't planning on losi—

 Where did he go?

 Keith was half way through his spin, when he felt the grip around his wrist pulling backwards. He had enough time to process he longer held the blade in his hand, before he was falling, a sudden pain behind his left knee. He held on to the first thing he could.

 That turned out to be a bad decision as he landed painfully on the floor; He had a fraction of a second to lie on his back staring at the ceiling, before Lance landed on top of him with a loud _oof._ His shirt might've been what Keith had held on to.

 Keith took a hold of himself as fast as he could. Unfortunately, Lance had been faster.

 Wait did that mean ... Seemed like Lance even while pointing his bayard and Keith's own blade to his neck came to the realization after Keith.

 “Wait, did I just ... win?” Lance sat up a little straighter, looking around the room with rounded eyes as if not believing it, before they finally landed on Keith again, “ _Holy shit_! I did,” a small laugh escaped him.

 He sat up straighter on top of Keith, He was heavier than he looked. “Keith, I just did that! Did you see? It was amazing.”

 Could his eyes stop sparkling like that? Could his face stop looking that genuinely happy?  
Of course Keith had _seen_ that, he wasn't blind and it _had_ been amazing. And any other time he would be appreciating it, but at the current moment he was too busy getting aware of their ... position. Crap, something like this was what he'd been afraid of.

 “Great.”

 “Oh, come on, mullet,” Lance huffed a laugh, deactivating his bayard, “Show some enthusiasm! I was amazing and you know it.”

 Could he stop being so excited about this?

 “Congrats, get up,” he said in a monotone voice.

 Lance pure smile of happiness turned into something slier, _oh shit_ , “Nope.”

 “What?” 

  _“Nope.”_  

 “What do you mean _nope?_ Get up,” Keith demanded. He was starting to worry.  Lance was too close to him and too warm.

“I mean nope. Not till you admit I just kicked your ass here.”

 Could he stop being so excited? Keith might end up showing a bit more ... enthusiasm than he had asked for if Lance didn't stop bouncing up and down like _that_ while he was cradling his hips. This was _not_ happening.

 He did his best attempt at rolling his eyes, “Okay, Lance, let's say you did, now get up.”

 Lance's smirk stayed un-wavered, “Don't _sass_ me, we both know I did. I'm awesome. Just admit to it,” he leaned back, _stop moving!_ “Come on, I'm now officially the cool ninja sharpshooter. Just say it.”

 That smug smirk should not look that good on Lance's face, nor his self-satisfied tone but it did. Shit. This room was getting way too warm. Keith's heart was beating too fast, sending too much blood to his body.

 Keith tried to go for the humour angle, he really needed to get Lance off him, “Are you joking?”

 “Come on, Keith, you've already admit to half of it,” he winked.

 Fuck, why hadn't Keith worn his armour instead of his normal clothes? Why hadn't Lance? Sure the material was tighter but it offered an extra layer of protection that their normal clothes didn't, and Keith really _needed_ that right now. Because Allura had been right about Lance being too _squirmy._  Can he stop moving so much while sitting on top of Keith? Cause Keith could feel _everything_ and he meant _everything_ when Lance did.

 “When have I done that?”

 Lance wiggled his eyebrows, “I'm the amazing sharpshooter?! Remember? mommy dearest ratted you out.”

 It took Keith a moment to remember his first day back at the castle, how did Lance even remember? _Ugh,_ fucking Krolia! this was all _her_ fault! Keith had fought Lance so many times, when had he ever had the same ... _issue_ before?

 “Lance, get up,” his voice came out hoarse. His throat had went dry.

 Lance leaned in closer with a deepened smirk. Keith might've swallowed very loud when the berry scent filled him. Seriously, how was Lance not hearing his heart. It felt lije it was jumping out ofhis chest. Lance held up Keith's marmoran blade to his neck. Keith knew he wasn't serious, but why the hell was that the hottest thing Keith had ever seen?

_I have issues._

 “Nuh-uh, not until you admit you think I'm the cool amazing ninja sharpshooter.”

 What was with that tone? It felt like it was searing inside keith's brain. Almost as much as Lance's weight pressing down on him was _. Fuck, fuck, FUCK_.

 “Get _off_ me, Lance,” his voice came out threatening, but Lance didn't seem to notice. Keith was aware the other boy was just being his teasing self, but Keith could _not_ deal with that right now. 

 “Not until you admit it. I know you think it, I can see it in your eyes,” _That's_ what he was seeing in Keith's eyes? _that?_ _Is he blind?!_ Keith was sure there was _much_ more going on there right now, “So just say it.” Lance finished. No one should look that smug and that attractive at the same time. 

 Alright, enough was _enough._ Keith needed him off right now, or he was admitting to _much_ more than that.

 He moved faster than Lance could react, locking his leg around Lance's, turning them around on the floor while holding Lance's wrists in his hands so he wouldn't end up blinding either of them. Yet, he held on to those wrists even as _Lance_ was now the one lying beneath him. Keith pinned the said wrists to the deck's floor, on either side of Lance's head. He might've leaned a little down, he also might be a little out of control of his own actions.

  _“Fine._ I think you're amazing. _Fine._ I think you're the fucking ninja sharpshooter! Happy?” he admitted, out of breath.

 Lance looked at him with rounded eyes and parted lips.

  _Oh, god,_ that sight was _not_ better. How was this even fair? It seemed like there should be some law in some part of the universe against people looking like _that._

 Lance collected himself quickly, grinning, “I mean _yeah._  But there was no reason to go all ... _rough_ about it.”

 Can he not look like that? _That_ view of Lance was not helping his situation. Keith groaned, looking up, closing his eyes. _God, have I done something to upset you? Do you have something against me? What have I done to deserve this?_ Had he walked on some sort of holy thing as a kid? Had he accidentally angered some sort of god out there? What had he done to deserve _this?_

 He _wished_ he could say his face was the only part of his body blood was rushing to, it wasn't. He let go of Lance's hands, getting up, standing the other way before Lance would notice.

 He heard Lance getting up after a second, “Hey, you alright?”

 Oh, no, he was _not._ How had he gotten here? He could _not_ turn around, “I'm fine, I'm just ... done with training today.”

 He needed a cold shower. He needed a cold shower right fucking now or he was gonna burn into ashes.

 “Okay?”

 “Wait, what about your ...”

 Keith was already out the door. It was a miracle he didn't run into anyone the way back to his room. One he was grateful for.

 He might've planned on taking a quick cold shower unfortunately, he ended up taking a longer, much warmer one, and not because of the water.

 

 Keith sat on his bed afterward, dropping his face to his hands. Fuck, he shouldn't have done that. Lance was his ... friend. He should _not_ have done that.

 Oh god, how was he ever gonna look at Lance again after imagining ... _crap,_ he felt his body getting warmed up again. _What is wrong with you?_ He took deep breaths, calming himself.

 How had he ended up here?

 How the hell had he ended up here?

 How was he ever gonna look into Lance's eyes again?

 The only had one answer; he _wasn't_ going to.

 He stayed in his room, lying in his bed. He didn't leave for Lunch, or all through the evening.

  _Of course_ Lance came to check up on him—because he was the sweetest, kindest, purest person and _god,_ how was Keith gonna ever talk to him again?—Keith managed to say a cracked _I'm fine_ from behind the closed door.

 He stayed there, staring at the ceiling, regretting his choices, damning himself.

 He didn't plan on leaving any time soon but then Coran showed up at his door. Apparently it was against the law to miss dinner two nights in a row. Well, the man did sound worried, and he could be like a dog with a bone if he thought something was wrong so Keith decided to go with him. He couldn't lock himself in his room forever. He had to face Lance sometime and the sooner he got over what just happened the better.

 It did _not_ mean his face did not get warmer as he and Coran walked closer to the dinning room, hearing Lance's voice talking to the others. 

 “Hey, mullet, nice of you to finally join us,” Lance was being sarcastic, but his tone was cheery. _Too_ cheery.

 Keith suppressed a sigh, making sure to keep his gaze away from Lance as he whispered a quiet ‘hey’ sitting down. Yet he didn't need to be looking to know Lance raised his eyebrow at the empty seat he'd left between them. Keith just couldn't be that close to him right now, not when he was hyper aware of every bit of the warmth radiating off the other boy. Did the galra really needed that much heightened senses? 

 It was half way through the meal, Keith was too deep in his thoughts to notice before the hand was already touching his face. He jumped up, “What the ...?”

 Lance was leaning half way over the chair between them. Keith felt his cheeks turn warmer the sight of the blue eyes looking at him, which by the way Lance was still pressing the back of his hand to one of those cheeks.

 Keith could only stare at him till he found his voice, “What ... are you doing?”

 “Checking your temperature,” Lance answered moving his hand up Keith's face, palming his forehead.

 “My temperature?” Keith questioned. Also could Lance stop touching his face? It was only making him feel warmer.

 “I think you have a fever,” Lance had a tiny frown.

 “I'm fine,” Keith answered, taking a hold of Lance's wrist. Pulling it away from his face.

 “You sure, man? You're really warm and you haven't stopped being red since ... you stepped inside the room?”

 Keith groaned internally at the worried tone and expression. _That's because of you, you damn moron!_ Keith yelled at his brain to shut up.

 Lance was going to get the others attention if he didn't stop so Keith reassured.

 “I'm fine.”

 He let go of Lance's hand, since _he_ hadn't shown any intentions of pulling it out of Keith's.

 Lance frowned more, “Keith, don't be stubborn if you're getting sick—”

 “Oh my god, I'm _fine,_ Lance. Let it go.” He snapped.

  _Crap,_ well, now they certainly got the others attention.

 “Hey, I'm just making sure you're okay, cause I won't be taking care of you if your nose starts running all over the place.” Lance looked at him with slightly rounded eyes, clearly surprised by the out burst.

 It made Keith feel guilty, even more. He softened his voice, “I'm fine, Lance.”

 Lance seemed to want to protest but he was interrupted by a chuckle.

 “Oh, don't worry, Lance. He's fine. He's _better_ than fine right now.”

 Keith turned to glare at Krolia. What was that supposed to mean?

 Wait. Did she somehow ... _know?_ No. How could she possibly? But if the galra could feel scents ... _No._ No, there was no way. Come on, how much embarrassment did he deserve to get in one day?! He felt his entire face turn ten shades darker.

 “Oh, I see what is. It's the blush of shame.”

 Keith was surprised he didn't get a whiplash with how fast his head turned to Lance. Oh, god did _he_ somehow knew? _HELL NO._

 Lance was looking at him with a smirk, “It's because I own you now, isn't it?”

 “What?!” Keith's voice came out high. Another chuckle.

 Lance raised his eyebrows, “You know, because of training? This morning.”

  _Oh,_ Keith took a sigh of relief, thanking the stars. Seriously, did Lance had to go for that wording? 

 He frowned once he recollected himself, “You didn't _own_ me.” 

 “Yeah, I did. You totally got your ass handed to you royally, and never the less by the _rookie._ Looks like the student has become the master, _”_ Lance pointed to himself, “You're looking at the new swordsman of team voltron, RIP mullet.” Lance announced, lifting his chin proudly.

 The immediate snort did not belong to Keith but to Pidge, “Yeah, sure, Lance.”

 Lance turned to her, squinting, “Yes, _sure._  I was awesome. Keith even admitted to it himself. I mean he went all ... weird about it but he did.”

 Keith dropped his head to the table, not even hiding his groan. _He's an idiot._ For someone who could be so smart, strategic, and have such bright ideas, Lance could be such an absolute  _moron_  other times. _Weird._

 _“_ Right _,_ like anyone's gonna believe that.” Allura said.

 “He _did!_ He even called me the cool ninja sharpshooter. Come on, tell them.” Lance's hand found it's way to his shoulder. Keith just gave another groan, resisting the urge to bang his head repeatedly against the metallic surface of the table.

  _“Right.”_

 “I swear he did,” Lance protested. He continued after a second, “Coran, can we get the footage?”

 Footage?

 Keith sat up straight, “Coran?” Oh god, if anyone saw ... saw _that,_ Keith was jumping out of the airlock.

 “Negatory. The room won't record antything unless you're using the bots.” Coran shook his head.

 Keith's ‘ _Oh, thank god.’_ Rolled into one with Lance's ‘ _Aw_.’

 Lance turned to look at him with a smirk. Oh shit, Keith shouldn't have said that out loud.

 “Wow, Lance really must've handed your ass to you if you're _that_ relieved,” Pidge said disbelief coating her tone.

 Well, better they thought _that_ than the real reason.

 “Told ya.”

 Lance did not shut up about how _amazing_ he'd been at _defeating_ Keith the rest of the dinner. That self-satisfied smirk on his lips should not look that good. And it should not make Keith feel warm all over. He had a problem.

 He finished his food as fast as he could, excusing himself out of the room. He wasn't surprised when he heard footsteps following him outside the room. But hecwas surprised when Lance stayed silent. He didn't say a word all the way back. Yet once at the door, he called to him before Keith could vanish back into his room.

 “Keith, wait.”

 Keith turned around keeping his head dipped down, eyes glued to the floor.

 “Here, you forgot this, this morning.”  
Keith looked up to see Lance offering his blade to him.

 “Oh,” he tried taking the blade but Lance didn't let go. Keith gave him a questioning look.

 “You know I was joking, right?” Lance asked, “All the stuff I just said, I was joking. Sorry, sorry if I went over board.”

 Oh, great now he'd made Lance feel guilty. Could he do Lance any more wrong in one day?

 “It's okay, I know,” he assured.

 Lance let go of the blade, but he stood there. 

 “It's just, I'm really happy. You're,” He looked up at Keith with a soft smile, “you're the best fighter I've ever seen. You look amazing when you fight, and badass and ...” he trailed off rubbing his neck. Keith's breath had already hitched in his lungs at the admiring tone, “Yeah, it's good to know I'm getting there too. And it's all thanks to you.”

 Keith didn't know how he managed to stop looking at those eyes. Because there was no mistaking it; there was clear awe in that look. Awe directed at _him._

 “Lance, you're the one who put all the effort into it. You don't owe me—”

 “No, no but I do,” Lance interrupted, “You believed in me and told me to trust myself and I ...” he trailed off. Letting those ocean eyes speak for him, sparkles flying in them.

 The world stilled as Lance leaned closer, slowly, giving Keith chance to move away. Keith couldn't if he wanted to, he was frozen. Not that he _wanted_ to. His eyes closed at the slightest brush of lips on his cheek.

 “Thank you for that.”

 The words weren't even a whisper, just a warm breath ghosting over his skin.

 Lance was already rushing inside his room when Keith opened his eyes. He only got a glimpse of how red his neck had been before he vanished behind the closed door, leaving Keith to stand there, leaving Keith with the memory of the softest lips in the world on his skin, leaving Keith there to wonder how the barest of a kiss on his cheek could feel a thousand times better than any fantasies he could ever have. But it wasa simple answer.

 It was better because it was real.

 He didn't know how long he stood there, hand on his cheek, eyes glued to the door. His hand stayed there, just as the smile stayed on his lips as he eventually went back to his room. It remained there for hours to come, the sound of the fast beating heart was the best sound he'd ever heard.

  
 

 Instead of going to training room as everyday, he went to the bridge the next morning. It wasn't like he was avoiding Lance. He wasn't . He just needed a few days to get the _other_ thoughts out of his head, before facing him again.

 Besides, he had Shiro to deal with.

 The man tapped on the panel, changing the screen as Keith walked in. He gave him an unsettling look. It made Keith feel on edge. He hadn't felt on edge around him in years. He trusted Shiro with all he had. It didn't make _sense._

 Shiro raised an eyebrow at Keith but Keith just walked to a pillar, leaning to it.

 “Do you want something?” Shiro demanded.

 “No,” Keith shook his head, crossing his arms.

 Shiro turned back to the screen. Only for a few minutes, he looked uncomfortable. Even more on edge than Keith was. He turned back, “Are you watching me? ”

 His tone was accusatory. Keith stood straighter, “No, of course not.” He might be a little.

 Shiro narrowed his frowned eyes at him, “Then what are you doing here?”

 “Nothing, I just wanted to spend some time ... here.” He missed it. He missed spending time with Shiro. Since when Shiro had a problem with him being in the same room?

 Shiro stared at him for a few seconds before he just turned back to his work without a word.

 

 Yet, he started taking the plans and his work back to his work room from that evening, where he could _not_ allow Keith in.

 That was ... suspicious, right?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So season 6, huh?  
>  I have something important to say and I think it's gonna upset a lot of you. Season six opened my eyes to a lot of things and I've decided to change how this story is gonna end ... look, guys I held on to Klance for so long, but what can I say? they just made a better argument. And you have no idea how sorry I am because obviously you guys came here to read a Klance fic and it's gonna happen but only for a short while, it's not gonna last. Sorry guys, the end game for this fic has officially changed to ... _Yorance_
> 
> (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ Oh, come on, I bet at least one person there fell for that. No? Okay, I'm gonna be in my corner of shame pretending I'm funny.
> 
> Okay but seriously season six shook me. Loved the DnD episode, and the fact that furry Lance is now canon. The flash backs were amazing too, and the garrison ones actually go with what I've planned for this so :) 
> 
> I'm not really gonna give any opinion beyond that it killed me, in a good way, in a bad way, and in a very aesthetically pleasing way. But feel free to tell me what you thought about it. Loved it? Hated it? Was it the best thing you've seen? Did it cleared your crops or did it give you cancer? I don't know, just tell me what you thought.
> 
> Wait, actually there is one thing I wanna complain about. I just can't believe dreamworks would pull something that low: how _dare_ they give us that beautiful, majestic, fluffy wolf without giving us its name?!
> 
> * * *
> 
>  
> 
> Alright, now this fic talk. See I wasn't gonna put this chapter in cause Keith is my sweet, pure son. But I mean come on, he's a teenager and having a crisis and Lance is very beautiful, alright? _And,_ I like having a comedy side to the story. I can't make it all angst, well I mean I _could_ , but I don't want to. I like making people laugh (or at least try to) so I might go a little over board sometimes. Plus, I gave Lance the dream, I had to make them equal ;)
> 
> But we will never discuss of this again, okay? For all I care Keith took such a long shower because the water was _nice,_ _not_ because there were any other activities going on, we clear?
> 
> Oh, and I have one last anouncement to make:
> 
> **“Keith is _not_  taller than Lance**
> 
> **Stop spreading rumours”**
> 
> Thank you for coming to this TED show. Bye.


	41. Chapter 41

“What are you gazing at that lovingly?”

 Lance jumped at the question. He was lying on one of the lounge’s couches. He hadn't even noticed Pidge walking in. He held up the tablet in his hand, showing the screen to her as she settled on the couch next to him.

 “Isn't this the most adorable picture you've ever seen?” 

 Pidge looked at it for half a second rolling her eyes immediately, “ _Of course_ it's Keith. What was I expecting?” 

 Lance ignored the comment. He'd been sitting there for far longer than he was willing to admit staring at that photo. The photo he'd taken of Keith the other day. Lance was still not over the reaction his brain had shown to seeing Keith in his shirt. His immediate thought had been to ‘ _go hug him, go hug him and never let him go’._ Of course he hadn't he still had some sense, but he'd wanted to, _so_ bad. It's not his fault; Keith had  looked so soft and cuddly and ... cute, look there was just no other word to say it. He looked _cute_ and even if Lance had taken the photo out of nowhere he still looked cute in it.

 “Let me rephrase my question,” Pidge's voice drew him out of the thoughts, “Why are you staring at his picture lovingly instead of staring at him lovingly as usual?” 

 Lance sent her a glare before answering, “I don't know. He's been acting weird. I think he's ... avoiding me.”

 “Don't you guys like spend _all_ your time together?” Pidge asked absentmindedly as she set up her Laptop.

 He and Keith did spent almost all of their time together. At least they did till a few days ago. Keith had skipped some of their trainings since then, but Lance had seen him use the main training deck instead of theirs. Or just simply vanish out of no where. It felt like he was avoiding being alone with Lance. 

 “Yeah, but he _has_ been,” Lance knew he was pouting, he couldn't help, “He doesn't even look me in the eye.” 

 And anytime he did, he looked away quickly. It wasn't just that, it was in the other small things. He kept his distance from Lance. And Lance had started to miss him. He was literally _there,_ it hadn't even been a couple of days but Lance was still missing him. It sucked. 

 “Oh, I _see._ So you're missing all the eye fuckery you two usually have going on.” 

 “ _Pidge_ ,” Lance scolded, frowning.

 She held up her hands, laughing, “Sorry, couldn't help it.” 

 “And why don't you just ask him what's wrong? I thought you had that weird way of making him talk.” She added.

 Lance couldn't help the smile. He had that weord way of making Keith talk just to him, he was so proud of that and honoured by it. 

 He sighed, “I _did,_ like twenty times.”

 Every time Keith answered with an ‘ _I'm fine.’_  hiding his face behind those bangs before Lance could read his expression. Lance had decided to back off a little after two days. If Keith wanted space, Lance would respect that. Didn't mean he liked it.

 “Do you want me to lock the two of you in a closet till you kiss and make up? Cause I _will,_ I'll even throw away the key gladly. I've been wanting to do that for _so_ long.” 

 Lance sent her another look.

 “Last one, I swear.” 

 Yeah, Lance doubted that _so_ much. 

 He sighed. The real problem here was that Keith distancing himself from him was beginning to scare him. Last time Keith had pulled away from him that suddenly it had resulted in him joining the blade. Lance's insides turned at the thought. Was that what's happening? Was he going again?

 Lance might've asked him not to, but he knew Keith didn't exactly have a choice, he wasn't one to just sit around doing nothing. Without a lion he wouldn't stay. Lance _knew_ that, he knew it was only a matter of time before he left but _damn it,_ he really didn't want him to. 

 “Hey, do you think there's an actual white lion?” 

 “No, I think it's just a culture thing for Alteans,” she answered, eyes on her laptop. 

 Yeah, okay, so Lance knew that had been a fat chance. 

 “You think we can make another lion?” he asked again after a few moments.

 “Another lion?” she questioned in a ridicule tone, “And exactly what part of Voltron would it be?”

 “I don't know, a hat or something?” 

 Pidge paused her work to look at him, “Lance, I don't think Keith’s gonna hang around to be a ... _hat.”_

 He wasn't even surprised how she knew that's why he was asking. She was a genius after all.  
“He doesn't have to! I'll be the hat, he can have red back.” 

 “Even if that worked, we have no comet to make a lion from,” Pidge gave him a small smile, the pity in her eyes was clear.

 “We can destroy Lotor's ship or something,” he suggested, “Or maybe we can go back to that other universe and get more.” 

 Lance wasn't stupid, he knew there really wasn't any way any of that worked. He just ... he didn't want Keith to go.

 Pidge shook her head, returning her attention to the screen in front of her. “You mean the one with the murdering Altean ones? We already took their comet from them, Lance.” 

 “We can find another one. Aren't there like a million other universes out there?” 

 “You really don't want Keith to go.”

 “No,” Lance wrapped his hands around himself, “no, I really _really_ don’t want him to go.” He admitted.

 Loneliness used to be an unfamiliar concept to him. Before Garrison he hadn't had felt that much of it, even after his dad. He supposed it was because he was younger then and he _did_ have a big family.

 Garrison had been different, he didn't connect with a lot of people there, he was friendly with everyone but not close with anyone but Hunk. Hunk was a blessing, but even with him sometimes Lance felt alone. There weren't that much moments but they were there. If they had felt more when Keith had dropped out, it was probably because Lance had lost someone to beat, _focus on_. 

 But once in space? That had been the first time he'd felt loneliness with its full force. There weren't that many of them in the castle-ship. And everyone was usually busy with something, contributing somehow. There were moments it had felt like he didn't belong here between them, like he was the odd one out, the ... the seventh wheel. 

 Lance hated to admit it, but it felt like he found his place in the team, after Shiro went missing. He'd grown up, a lot, and he liked that. He knew he'd helped Keith lead, he _knew_ he had. For the first time it had felt like he was truly a paladin.

 And Lance had been happy when they found Shiro. Shiro was his friend, part of their space family, Lance had looked up to him for most of his life. _Of course_ he'd been happy but then Keith had left.

 The dynamics in the team had changed again after that. Lance tried to be Shiro's right hand man, offering as much as he could. But sometimes it felt like Shiro just didn't see it in him, that he could be better just the ... goofball. Didn't that one hurt.

 But more than that, Lance just felt alone. It was surprising how long it had taken him to realise it was because Keith wasn't there that he frlt like that. 

 Pidge and Hunk had formed their own duo since early in their days of castle. It wasn't that they ignored Lance or excluded him they just had more in common. Allura spent most of her time working, talking to Lotor through the castle calls. Coran was usually busy around the castle, Lance helped him as much as he could but most of the time the man had too much to deal with him. And then Shiro ... Shiro, _well,_ he wasn't helping with the way he'd been acting. 

 So yes, Lance had spent a lot of his time alone in his room or the training room. He missed having someone to talk to. He missed having someone to soend time with. Someone to Laugh with. But more than that, He'd missed _Keith._

 And now? They were _so_ much closer, there was no denying that. Yey Keith was going to leave him, _the team_ again, but yeah he was going to Leave Lance.

 “You're not gonna cry, are you?”

 His inner turmoil must've shown on his face for her to notice. “No.” He tried to keep his shoulder from dropping.

 “Do you want me to get Hunk?” Pidge asked almost gently, “I don't really know how to do the comfort thing.” 

 Lance gave her a smile, “No, you're good,” he assured.

 She returned the smile, “If it helps I don't want him to leave either. Voltron doesn't feel the same without our emo.” She pouted.

 Lance’s heart ached at the sad expression on her face. She didn't normally show that much emotion. He leaned over the couch to wrap a hand around her, half hugging her, “Hey, don't worry. We'll figure something out.” 

 “I should be saying that to you, you dumb ass.” 

 Lance felt the small way she pushed herself to the hug, yet she quickly pulled away at Allura's voice.

 “What's up?”

 “Lance is moping over Keith.,” Pidge told her as she walked in slumping on a seat.

 “I'm _not!”_

 “Oh well, what else is new?”

 His words rolled into one with Allura's. He distributed his squint between the two girls.   
“I’ve said it before, and I'm gonna say it again. I do _not_ approve of this new friendship,” he pointed between the two. The only answer he got was double smirks. _Great,_ as if Pidge on her own wasn't enough.

 When Allura spoke again after a few minutes, her face was softer, “Lance, I was wondering um, can you ...?” she pointed to her hair.

 “You want me to braid it again?” he read into the gesture.

 She nodded, “I really liked the way it looked the other time.” 

 Lance smiled, “Hell yeah, I can. We just gotta get some some hair ties or—” he didn't even get to finish his sentence before Allura revealed a small jewellery box in her hand. Well, someone came prepared.

 “Come on, then,” he settled on the floor. She sat in front of him, handing him the box. 

  _Wow,_ he thought as he opened it. It was filled with hair ties and hair pins. Veronica would've killed for pins like that.

 “Veronica?” Allura asked.

 Oh, he must've thought out loud. “Yeah, my sister.” 

 Before he knew it he was telling stories about Veronica and his other siblings. He knew he was smiling, specially every time Pidge and Allura burst into laughter at their adventures. Though, he paused the tale and the braiding when he noticed the glowing globe forming in Allura's palm. 

 “What are you doing?” 

 “Trying to control its quintessence,” she showed up a purple stone in her hand. The galran crystal looked far too familiar.

 “Is that ...?” 

 “Part of the Sendak's crystal? Yeah,” she nodded,

 “Lotor and I have been trying to play with its quintessence.” 

 “Are we sure that's a good idea?” cause it sure didn't sound like one to him.

 “Yes, he thinks it'll be helpful if I can find a way to separate the corrupted quintessence from the stone to purify it.” 

 Lance looked at the dark globe forming above her hand again, so that was corrupted quintessence. The sight left him at an unease. It looked so wrong comparing to the turquoise light of normal quintessence.

 “And are you sure that's safe?” 

 “Yes, Lotor has assured me,” she said tone coating a smile.

 Yeah, that just made it less reassuring to Lance. He did not trust that guy as far as he could throw him. But he could tell Allura trusted him. He decided not to pursue the matter, at least not currently. He continued with the stories. Pidge sometimes cut in to give her own.

 She was half way through telling them a story about her and Matt sneaking out to perform a test, _god they were such nerds_ , only to be caught and joined in sneaking out by their father, when Keith walked in the lounge.

 “Hey mullet,” Lance smiled looking up, ignoring Pidge's “ _Sure interrupt, It's not like I'm talking or anything. ”_

 “Hey,” he answered quietly sitting on the opposite couch. 

 Lance felt his shoulders drop involuntarily. When had Keith ever sat that far from him? He meant besides the past few days of course. Even when they had first arrived at the castle and all the two of them did was fight, he and Keith always sat or stood next to each other. Keith had once told him he was the most disgusting person ever—Lance had been starving and the weird goo Hunk had made was for some unexplainable reason freaking delicious. He really might've been eating disgustingly—Keith had sat next to him even after Lance had shown him the contents of his full mouth. 

 He returned his attention back to braiding Allura's hair. At least till she spoke up.

 “Keith, stop glaring at me,” she laughed.

 “I ... wasn't,” he answered.

 Pidge’s smirk was clear in her tone, “Really? Cause you're two seconds from drilling holes into her skull.” 

 Keith's only answer was to cross his arms and look to the side with a pout. Aw, Lance really wanted to call him out on that pout. 

 “I think Keith wants you to braid his hair, too.” Allura said.

 It took Lance a second to realise she was talking to him, “No way,” he said. There was no way Keith would ever let him do that. And certainly not currently. Lance still couldn't help looking up hopefully.

  _“No.”_

 Keith's tone left no room for argument, Allura did _anyway,_ “Why not? You clearly want to. Or is there any _other_ reason you're looking at me like I killed your entire race?” 

  _Wow_ , did she just made that joke? And what was that sly tone? Lance might've pulled on her hair a little as he put the last pin in. She only answered with a snort getting up to take a seat back on the couch. “Come on, Keith.” 

 When Keith didn't give an answer only scowling more at the floor lance spoke, “It's okay. He doesn't—” 

 “No, it ain't.” 

 It was Pidge who cut in. She pushed her glasses back on her nose, pointing a finger at Keith, “You've been acting weird, he's been acting sad,” she pointed to Lance. Lance sent her a look—why didn't she just run around the castle and tell everyone about that?— It went pretty unacknowledged by her, “I do not appreciate his kicked puppy face, so get over there and fix it, Kogane. Or so help me, be ready to face—” 

 “It's fine, Pidge,” Lance interrupted her threat. “He said he didn't want to, leave him be.” He couldn't help the way his shoulders dropped as he looked to the side.

 “Actually, on second thought I might want one of those braids.” 

 Lance glanced up surprised at the change in tone. Keith held his gaze for only a second, but his smile stayed. It looked apologetic.

 “If the offer still stands.” 

 Lance just patted the floor in front of him. Keith sat down, cross-legged. His muscles only did a small jump when Lance first ran his fingers through his hair. No other reactions as Lance began his work, he paused.

 “So what? I don't have the plague anymore?” he couldn't help whispering. Keith having super hearing actually was pretty useful sometimes. Lance usually used it to crack a joke to make him laugh, but it also came handy when he wanted to say something to Keith and no one else.

 “The ... _plague?”_ Keith questioned in quiet tone.

“Yeah, the plague. You go stiff any time I come near you,” he couldn't help the hurt tone. Last time Keith had acted that uncomfortable around him had been only a few weeks after them entering the castle. Lance was a fan of physical contact but he'd respected that Keith wasn't as soon as he learnt about it. Still Keith had seemed fine with the, well, increase of their interactions. Lance was friendly and Keith didn't seem like he minded it. But these past few days, it looked like every muscle in his body tensed if Lance got any closer than five feet to him. It weirdly made Lance feel rejected.

 “Keith, is it, is it because of,” he took a breath in, looking down, “Is it because of the other night. What I ... _did_ when I thanked you? because if I made you un-uncomfortable—” Lance's insides turned at the thought that _that_ had been the reason Keith was avoiding him. He wasn't even sure where he'd found the guts to do that. Keith had just seemed upset, and for some reason that had seemed the only reasonable thing to do to Lance's brain. He'd spent the entirety of that night questioning his reasoning. That's a lie, he'd spent the entire night reliving the moment; Keith's soft skin, the way Keith's eyes had fluttered close, his small gasp. That wasn't a bad reaction, right? His chest pressured at the thought that maybe he'd had forced it on Keith. But, but Lance had given him enough time to stop him, push him away if he wanted to. He hadn't and he'd been acting different before that too. So it couldn't have been because of the-the kiss, right? Lance had done everything in his power to push the thought out of his head the past days. “—if I made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. I'll—” _never do anything like that again._ Those were the words he meant to say and he would mean them he would never do anything to make Keith feel like that. But he didn't get to say them.

 “No,” Keith didn't turn around, but his hand came up to wrap around Lance's. _“no,_ Lance, you didn't,” his voice was soft and reassuring and it made Lance release the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. 

 “It's not that. It's just,” he paused, taking a sigh, “something Krolia said to me. It really got to me.” 

 What? What had she told him that had gotten to him that much? Lance considered Krolia a friend, he was probably closest to her after Keith, he was her son, and Pidge, they had formed a weirdly adorable friendship, in this castle. But if she thought she could just upset Keith like that she had another thing coming.

 “Something about my galra ... genes.” Keith continued even quieter.

 “Oh.” 

 “And about me ... and you,” Keith stuttered.

Lance frowned, he had no idea what that meant. Yet, he could tell it wasn't something Keith wanted to talk about.

 “I'm not going to ask you to tell me, but can you stop avoiding me?” Lance asked.

 He saw Keith tense. He continued before Keith could deny it, “Yeah, you are. _Don't._ Please don't distance yourself from me. It-it hurts. It really hurts when you do that,” he didn't know where he found the courage to say that. Even if the words were barely leaving his lips.

 Keith stilled for a second before his hand, still around Lance's gave it a small squeeze, “I'm sorry, I'll ... try not to do that anymore.” 

 That's all Lance asked for. He leaned in a little closer, resting his forehead to the back of Keith's head for a fraction of a second, “Thank you.” Keith only gave his hand another squeeze and an barely audible _‘I'm sorry.’_ Before letting go of Lance's hand.

 Lance leaned back, taking a happy breath. “Alright, now let's see if we can somehow make your ugly ass mullet less ugly ass,” he announced in normal voice. 

 He chose to ignore Pidge muttering ‘ _obsessed_ ’ under her breath and Keith's small snort after that. Instead he ran his fingers through Keith's hair a few times. _What the hell?_

 “Of course. Of course you're one of those people.”

 “Those people?” Keith asked.

 “Yes, those people. Those annoying people who have naturally good hair without taking care of it. I bet you don't even wash it, or wash it with soap or something. But of course you're gonna have the softest hair in the universe, why am I even surprised?” he complained.

 “Is that a compliment?” 

 “What do you think, mullet?”  
Keith didn't answer, only laughing a small laugh, relaxing back.

 It really was a compliment because _holy shit_ , Lance couldn't stop running his hands through it. His hair was softer than Lance's 6 year old baby niece. How was that even possible? That was just not fair. Then again Keith just had to be perfect at anything, didn't he? Lance wished he could say it only bothered him, but for some reason Lance felt really proud about it, like yeah, _of course_ his Keith was perfect at anything.

...

 His Keith?!

  _His?_

 Lance might be panicking a little but it still didn't stop him from running his fingers through those lacy strands. He hadn't even started braiding, he was just playing with the other boy's hair at this point. But he really couldn't stop and ...

 did he just ...?

 “What was that?” 

 “Nothing,” Keith answered quickly. _Too_ quickly.

 Lance narrowed his eyes at the back of his head. He felt a grin take over his face as he ran his fingers at the same spot he had a second ago, just above Keith's ears.

 A low murmur escaped Keith's throat.

  _Oh my god._ “Did you just purr?” 

 “No.” 

 “You _did.”_

 “No, humans don't purr.” 

 “But I bet galra do.” 

 “No, they don't,” Keith insisted.

 “You sure?” Lance couldn't help the smirk. Keith must've felt what he was about to do but Lance was faster scratching the same spot. Keith's ears did a small twitch and as if that wasn't the cutest thing Lance had ever seen a soft purr followed. Okay, this much adorableness seemed like it should be illegal.  
Keith immediately slapped his both hands over his own mouth, giving Lance a horrified look. His face turning a shade redder. Lance was filled with the weird urge to hug him really tight. 

 “Oh my god, you did. You did!” he couldn't help bouncing up and down a little.

 “Did what?” 

 Both of them turned to look at Pidge. Keith turned back to give Lance a look from the corner of his eyes, half threatening, half scared look.

 Yeah, like Lance was ever letting anyone else know about that. 

 “Nothing.” 

 Pidge just gave them a squint before shrugging and going back to her laptop.

 Keith raised an eyebrow at him. 

 “Like I'm gonna share my space kitty with anyone.” He turned Keith's shoulder as he saw the boy's eyes rounding a little, going back to his work.

 “I don't even like cats.” 

 Despite Keith's complaint Lance could hear the smile he seemed to be fighting in his tone.

 “Okay, first of all, _rude._ How dare you? Cats are the necessary pillars of this world. Second of all, it's fine I like them enough for the both of us.” 

 Sadly, Keith seemed to bite his cheeks for the rest of the time Lance was working on his hair. But his face seemed to be getting redder. 

 Once finished Lance couldn't help but stare at the newly revealed skin. Was this the first time he'd ever seen Keith's neck? Why did it matter so much? He couldn't keep avert his eyes from the pale skin. His hand fell down from keith's hairline. His thumb barely brushing down the nape of Keith's neck. Keith's skin warm under his slight touch. There was a small shiver, and he saw the short hair standing on their end. If he would just lean down — 

 “Lance?”

 Keith's voice brought him out of the trance. He shook his head, moving back, “Yeah, yeah, I'm done.” He felt blood rushing to his ears. Was he seriously about to ...? _What the hell?_

 Keith scooched, to the side. Lance didn't even have a chance to take a look at his handy work before Keith ran his hand all through his hair opening the braid. He did not just do that.

  _“Keith!”_ Lance shrieked, “What the hell?” 

 Keith shrugged, “It looked weird.” 

 “You hadn't even seen how it looked yet, heck I hadn't either,” Lance threw his hands in the air.

 “It felt weird.” 

 “Then why the hell did you let me spend twenty minutes on it, you jack ass?!” 

 Keith just shrugged. 

 “Seriously?!” Lance questioned.

 Keith looked at him shyly?, “It-it felt nice.” 

 Lance's defence dropped. “Oh.” His voice didn't crack, it didn't.

  “ _Gayyy.”_

 They both jumped up turning to Pidge. Lance felt his face go even warmer.

 “Right,” Keith said after a second, “okay, I'm gonna go back to training.” 

 Lance deflated. He was going alone again? But he just said ... he didn't get to finish the thought before Keith was looking at him with a smile.  
“You coming?” 

 Lance couldn't help the smile that took over half of his face, and he didn't wanted to. He was quick to stand up, following after Keith. Though he did stop at the door. 

 “Thanks Pidge.” 

 Pidge looked up from her laptop giving him a small smile before waving her hand dismissingly, “Whatever, you're an ugly crier. I wasn't in the mood.” 

  _“I wasn't gonna cry!”_

 Keith's annoying smirk stayed with him all the way back to their training room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look, I made Pidge tease Lance _and_ be nice to him. See, DreamWorks it's not that hard ... sorry I'm still salty about season 6. 
> 
> I swear if they don't give Lance a hug next season I'm calling the cops. Like I don't even care if it's Keith or not, just let someone hug him. He fucking deserves it. (Forgive the cursing)
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, and the return of jealous Keith ;)


	42. Chapter 42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.” 
> 
> \- Stephen King 

 It was late afternoon when the occupants of the castle got called to the bridge by Allura. The others seemed clueless as he and Keith were as to why.

 Shiro looked up once everyone settled in the room, “We have a mission coming up tomorrow. It's a tricky one. We're going to need all hands on deck.”

 Lance kept his sigh of relief as quiet as possible. It had been so long since they last formed Voltron. Not to mention most of their missions seemed to go wrong lately. It felt like a better decision to work whatever this problem was as a team. Maybe it was a sigh of happiness too. Shiro said _all_ hands, that meant Keith was coming too. Lance had missed going on missions with him.

 Allura continued after the man, “You all know we've been receiving more and more reports of attacks by the generals of the former empire. Things have been looking even worse as of recently. There have been more and more attacks these past weeks. We've already lost two of the coalition planets and two of the rebel bases.”

 Keith took a step forward, “What? Why didn't we stop them?”

 “The attacks were sudden. We lost communication first so no one knew what had actually happened till just a few days ago,” Allura said, eyebrows knitted.

 “Wait, why are we hearing about it now then?” Lance asked.

 “We're _not,”_ Shiro said, “Me and Allura have been discussing it these last days.”

  _What?_ Lance couldn't help the hurt look he sent to Allura. Sure, Shiro had been keeping most things regarding their missions to himself instead of sharing it with the rest of them. But he did usually consult with Allura, and she usually kept him, Lance, in the circle of things. She usually brought him along to her meetings with Shiro even if Shiro didn't seem too happy about it.

 Had he lost that? Had he lost that place on the team as well? Because he wasn't sure where in the team he fit anymore if he had.

 She gave him an apologetic look, only nodding towards Shiro. Oh. He must've asked her not to. It was understandable—was it?—with how much Lance seemed to mess the missions up recently.

 Lance brushed past the thought as Keith spoke up, “Then what are we waiting for? the longer we wait the more powerful they get.”

 “Yeah,” Lance agreed, “And we promised those planets we'd keep them safe. We need to act on this now.”

 Shiro turned to him with a frown, “You don't seem to understand. We can't just go in guns blazing when we have no information on the situation,” he tapped on the panel in front of him. The star map appeared.  
Almost everyone gasped at what they saw.

 “Oh no,” Hunk said.

 “I'm afraid it's true,” Allura pointed to the very large number of red dots, representing the galra forces focused in a not so small area. “We have not seen this many come together since,” she paused, “Well, since Zarkon. It appears they have finally come to the conclusion that instead of each fighting for themselves, it would be in their favour if they joined forces. Scattered troops have been coming together to form an alliance. We think someone must be leading them, organizing them. Prince Lotor and I think Haggar might be behind it.”

 She'd said something like that to him another time too. Lance still couldn't help questioning it.

 “Crazy witch lady? But didn't pricey lotion,” Pidge and Keith made small snorts on either side of him, “say the galra hated her? If they didn't follow her before, why would they now?”

Allura's brows knitted together, “We do not know. But consistent formation like this? Someone must be behind it. And he told me he'd had reports of a new mysterious weapon,” Shiro turned to Allura at that, “She could have promised them power or quintessence. But the truth is we do not know, this mission is to solve exactly that problem. We're trying to gather information.”

 She tapped on the panel again. This time a hologram showed up. “We received information of one of their bases this morning. It appears to be a usual trademark for their ships. We're hoping there would be more data on their forces stored there.”

 “Another space hub, base, thingy?” Hunk asked.

 She nodded, “Yes, and it's very heavily guarded ...”

 Lance stared at the details showing on the hologram as she went on. But the more of the data he read, the less it made sense.

 “What's wrong?” Keith whispered to him.

 Lance took a second from his frowning to smile at Keith noticing something was wrong with him. Any other time his chest would bubble up at Keith paying that much attention to him, though now he had more important things on his mind.

 “It doesn't add up,” he whispered back.

 Lance spoke up before Keith could ask more, “Are we sure Lotor's giving us the right info, here?”

 “Not this again.”

 Allura rolled her eyes at him, “Lance.”

 Lance wasn't gonna lie; Hunk's quiet whisper hurt far more than Allura's scold. Did they had to make it clear they thought his distrust of Lotor was just a joke? Sure, Lance made jokes about it, and Yeah, okay Allura might not have known him that long but Hunk had. Hunk knew better than that. He knew when Lance was serious about something.

 “I'm just saying, that's right next to the Velorum nebula, right?” he pointed to the hologram.

 Lance had always had a more-than-average knowledge of stars, constellations, really any astronomical objects, even far before he'd entered Garrison. He wouldn't go as far as calling himself a space nerd, but yeah that's exactly what he'd been for most of his life. He was infatuated with the sky, space, all the secrets they held.

 But things had been different once he actually was in space. All that knowledge he had appeared to be nothing once they were actually in space. It was much bigger than imaginable, than any of their maps back on earth had ever showed. Lance had no idea where in the universe they were ninety percent of the time. Neither did any other one of the paladins for that matter, all except for Shiro and Coran.

 He hadn't liked it. Back on earth he knew the night sky better than the back of his hand. He still could remember where everything was when he closed his eyes. Lance yearned for that familiarity again. Maybe that's why he'd started remembering the new star map. It had just been a hobby at first. Something to do times when he was bored; he would just go to the bridge, activate the map and try to memorize all the unknown stars, planets, galaxies.

 He'd started doing it more seriously later on. He'd spent a lot of time studying everything he could on their new universe map after their first interaction with Lotor. Their first mission in their new lions. It just felt like if they had known more about the planet Lotor wouldn't have been able to play them like that. Besides Lance was starting to be Keith's right hand man. Keith had listened to him, Keith had valued his opinions Lance had wanted to make sure it would stay that way. To make sure he had something, some knowledge to offer. So now he had a pretty decent knowledge of space.

 “Isn't that one of rebels common trading places?” he went on, “If there's so much galra trafficking going on there how come no one noticed anything sooner?”

 “He's got a point,” Pidge backed him up. She was more familiar with the rebel troops location because of her connection to them, Matt, so it gave him more confidence in his point.

 Lance thought back to the other day. How wrong the quintessence globe Allura had been playing around with had felt to him. Given the fact that the first time that had happened she had lost her father, for her to be willing to play around with that thing? it showed of how much influence Lotor actually had on her.

 “Maybe we shouldn't trust Lotor that blindly?”

 He'd tried to keep his voice gentle and as a suggestion but Allura was quick to frown.

 “Lance, that's not—”

 “I agree with Lance on this.” Everyone in the room turned to look at Krolia at her words. She had her arms crossed, “You all should know better than to trust such a man.”

 Well, _finally._ Someone else saw his point of view on the matter. Allura did not seem happy about that.

 “Excuse me?” Allura placed a hand on her hip. She had not looked that hostile since ... since Lance could remember.

 “The blade has been keeping an eye on prince Lotor for a long time now. Yet we barely know anything about him, he's very good at hiding himself and his intentions. He is not a good person. Even the empire considered him dishonourable.”

 “Oh and we all know how _honourable_ the galra are?”

 The room fell in silence after Allura's words. Yet Krolia didn't seem phased by it. He supposed she must've been used to hearing things like that by now. Keith, however, Lance's eyes went to him immediately. He could tell Keith wanted to show nothing yet the crease in between his eyebrows the downward tug of his lips, the small way his fists had curled. They said it all for him. Something pressured Lance's chest.

 “Allura.” He said. How had she managed to be biased about the galra _while_ defending the galra?

 She took a step back. Sending a quick rather apologetic look to Keith, before returning her gaze, _burning,_ to Krolia, “I trust him.”

 Krolia however stood her ground, “You shouldn't. He killed one of his own. That's not a trust worthy man.”

 “That was months ago, he's changed,” Allura insisted.

 “No one changes that much, that fast,” Krolia disagreed.

 “That is _your_ opinion. And your opinion is not welcome here. you're only aboard my ship as Keith’s mother nothing more.”

 Krolia finally seemed taken aback. Everyone did. Allura had shown her nothing but respect thus far.

 Lance felt like this was the moment to step in, “Allura—”   
“That's enough!” Shiro cut him off, _“We,”_ he pointed between himself and Allura, “trust Lotor and that is more than enough in this team. Besides I got these information from the rebels. If you doubt the information, then you're doubting them. Is that what you're saying, Lance? Do you not trust them? The people who's fought along side us? Pidge's brother?”

 Lance felt his heart pressuring at the way Pidge frowned. That wasn't fair. That's not what Lance had said.

 But what bothered him even more than that was Shiro. There was something about the way Shiro had stepped forward at that moment that made Lance want to shrink. Maybe it was the icy eyes. It wasn't really his authority tone, but his challenging one that made Lance look down, “No, of course not.”

  _“Good.”_

 Lance stayed silent for the rest of the mission brief. The small way Keith had leaned towards him was noted and appreciated.

 

 The two of them returned to the training room. He could use some of that right now. Keith stayed quiet for most of the time, Lance appreciated the fact that he knew when not to push. He just sparred with Lance for a while. And yes Lance started to feel better after a while.

 They took a break after a while. Lance took a seat on the floor. He closed his eyes resting his head back to the wall, feeling when Keith sat next to him.

 “Hey, can I ask you something?” he said after a while.

 “Well, technically you just did.”

 He didn't have to open his eyes to know Keith was rolling his eyes.

 “Can I ask you another one?”

 Lance opened one eye looking at him. Keith had a towel around his neck. His long hair was dripped with sweat, sticking to his face. It should look gross. But it didn't. Not even by far. And really how could it? with those flushed cheeks, the way his hair curved around his face. Lance could watch him for hours.

 He let a grin take over his lips, “I mean, you kinda—”

 “Don't you dare say ‘ _You already did_.’” Keith cut him giving him a glare. Yeah, like Lance believed he actually meant that.

 “You know me too well,” Lance laughed giving a wink. It was amazing how quick Keith's expression went from frowning to smiling. “Alright, samurai, you have one question. Use it wisely.”

 Keith took his time before asking, “Why do you hate Lotor so much?”

 To be honest Lance had expected the question to be about earlier but not about that.

 “I think the real question should be why _don't you?”_ Lance continued, “You were all thirsty for his blood and then you're suddenly risking your life for him?”

 Lance frowned at the memory. Keith had risked his life staying back on Feyiv to defuse those bombs. The team hadn't even seen him after that, they just had heard the story from Shiro. He frowned even more at the reminder that their leader had taken off without telling them in the first place.

 “I wasn't _thirsty for his blood_. He was our enemy and then he wasn't. I couldn't just let him die. Shiro was there too.”

 “Shiro had black. The explosion wouldn't hurt him.” Lance argued. Keith was too reckless with his life. The thought left Lance at an unsettling place every time it hit him.

 “We needed Lotor on the throne. And he was on our side, I couldn't just let him—”

 “ _Is_ he?” Lance turned to face Keith completely, “Is he on our side? Because to me it looks like he's on _his_ side.”

 He continued as Keith raised his eyebrows at him, “Look at everything he's earned. We got rid of his enemies for him. He killed his dad, which he clearly had wanted to do for so long. Got the throne he's been waiting for ten thousand years. Finally got his personal quintessence ... player or whatever. Seems like he's gaining a lot.”

 “Yeah, he _is_ close with Allura.” Keith commented, rather farther from Lance's point.

 It still brought a laugh out of him, “Wow, how obvious are they, that even captain oblivious picked up on it?”

 “Captain oblivious?” Keith raised an eyebrow, “That's a new one.”

 Lance just shrugged instead of answering. Keith didn't seem bothered by the nickname. If anything he was smiling, well until he wasn't. He crossed his arms, looking to the side with a frown.

 “Are you sure _that's_ not it? That you're not just upset because he and Allura are together?”

 He was using that tone. The one he took a lot recently, when talking about Allura, involving Lance. It almost made Lance want to smile, _giggle ridiculousl_ y, because he sounded ...

 but Lance wasn't going to smile when Keith just said _that._

 “Really, Keith?” he sighed, “It's not that I don't trust him because he's with her. It's _because_ I don't trust him that I don't like her being so close to him.”

 Keith gave him a confused look.

 “Think about it. He'd been wanting this unlimited quintessence stuff for a while now right? What if he's using her? or what if he hurts her? She trusts him way too much. You saw the way she acted earlier. I'm just worried,” He paused adding a “not _jealous.”_  to reassure Keith.

 “Oh,” Keith's shoulders visibly relaxed.

 And okay maybe Lance couldn't help himself. _“You,_ on the other hand,” he grinned, “try not to doubt me so quickly next time you're acting jealous.”

 Keith spent ten solid seconds of just staring at him before he frowned, “I’m not jealous.”

  _“Sure.”_

 “I'm not.”

 Yeah, the little redness rushing to his face, specially his nose, was telling Lance otherwise, _“Okay._ You're not. That's why you look at Allura the same way Hunk looks at me every time I eat the last piece of food left.”

 “I'm _not._ Why would I be jealous?”

 Lance placed his chin in his hands, smirking, “Good question. I don't know. Why _are_ you jealous, Keith?”

 He couldn't help his laugh when Keith pouted looking away. “Yeah, feel free to give me the answer whenever you want.”

 Keith gave him a side glare. However his expression changed after a few seconds when he tilted his head, quirking his eyebrow, “Hmm, you sure you could _handle_ it, _sharpshooter?”_

 Lance could only stare at him, bewildered by how fast the tables had turned. He could feel the blood pulsing to his ears and it had everything to do with Keith's smirk, and the way he'd said the nickname and the rest of the words. His voice was somehow burning Lance’s skin from inside out. The way he leaned in in response was involuntary, “Mullet, you should know by now I can handle _a lot.”_

 Keith didn't answer, only lifting an eyebrow. Lance was the first to look away, he just couldn't take it, the mischievous smirk, the playful quirk of his eyebrow, it was too much. Yet it was nothing nothing compared to the playful look in his eyes.

 Lance cleared his throat, “Anyway, it's not just that. Lotor's plan? To give everyone access to free quintessence? It kinda sounds suspicious to me. I can't trust him. It's just a gut feeling telling me he's up to something,” a gut feeling no one else, apparently except for Krolia, seemed to share with him. He ran a hand through his hair, “I don't know. Maybe I'm looking too much into it. Maybe I'm wrong—”

  _“No.”_

 Lance looked up at the sudden interruption. Keith had a very focused face, his eyes were serious as he glanced at Lance, “No. If that's how you feel, trust it. You're usually right.” He gave a small smile, something very close to pride flickering in his expression.

 Lance could only blink at him, “Didn't you just say you believed him?” That was pretty fast of him to change his mind.

 “I met him like twice, you've seen more of him. If your instincts are telling you not to believe him—”

 “The others don't,” Lance felt like he should clarify. “Everyone else thinks he's good now.”

 “Well,” Keith smiled, “I trust _you_ and your guts.”

 “Over-over everyone else's?” Lance couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice.

 “Over everyone else's.”

 Lance could only stare at the smile on the other boy's lips. “Why?” he whispered. Why would Mr instinct trust _him_ more than his own judgement or the others on the team? Lance was just him. He wasn't some smart genius or a good leader or a brilliant princess. He was just him. He was just Lance. The average boy with semi-decent skills and instincts. There was nothing special about him. Why would Keith choose to believe _him?_

 “Why?” Keith questioned.

 “Why are you trusting ... _me_ that much?”

 “Why am I ...?” Keith repeated, he made a small sigh. His smile was almost sad when he looked up at Lance. Lance felt his eyes rounding when Keith reached his hand placing it on Lance's chest. Lance followed the movement with his eyes, they went to stay on Keith's after. The purple irises were impossible to look away from in that moment. Lance could've sworn they were glowing.

 “Because you have a good heart. You're more trusting than anyone I've met, you're kinder than anyone I've met. if you're choosing not to trust him despite that and for good reasons, then yes, yes I believe you over anyone else. I trust you over anyone else.” He took his hand back smiling softly and shyly. How Lance managed to look away from him was beyond him.

 “You believe me over anyone else,” he repeated to himself, his voice cracking. Who had ever done that? Who the hell had ever valued Lance's dumb brain more than anyone else's? His hand went to where Keith's had been a few seconds ago, on his chest over his heart. It felt like Keith had left something warm in there. Something that for a while now had been threatening to not only take his heart, or his chest, but take over his entire world.

 And Lance was okay with that.

 “Alright, break’s over.” He said standing up. Because he didn't know what he would do other wise.  
Probably something crazy. Like pull Keith in for a kiss. But was it?

 Was it really crazy?

  _Was it?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back. I'm so _so_ sorry about going MIA for a while there. Something big came up last week, and I've had about a ton of things to deal with. (Wish me luck in that) But I promise next time something like that happens, I'll let you guys know if I'm not gonna be posting :) all that aside I'm back to my normal schedule now.


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys :) Sorry for the delayed update, but this is kind of a longer one.

 Lance left the training room earlier than usual. He noticed Keith's pout upon the announcement, well he wasn't above teasing him a little, _a lot_.

 He shook his head getting the thoughts— _the mullet_ —out of his head—seriously, what was he? a permanent resident of Lance's mind? Why was he always in there? It felt like he was always lurking in the shadows, ready to take over his entire thought process out of no where at any given _chance—anyway,_ Lance shook his head once _again,_ sending an inside glare at himself to focus as he finally arrived at Allura's door. He knocked on the door.

 “Yeah?”

 The door opened at Allura's voice. Lance walked inside.

 “Hey, I wanted to—” he paused his sentence and his steps at the sight of Lotor on the screen, wall. The downward tug of his lips as Lotor nodded at him through the image was involuntary, “locomotive,” he greeted.

 “Locomo ... I've never heard that before. Is it an insult?” Lotor asked.

 Yes, Lance should probably work on getting better insults, but as long as Lotor thought it was one that was enough.

 “Your face is an insult,” Lance muttered walking closer to where Allura was sitting. How she managed to do a snort, a frown and an eye-roll at him all at the same time was beyond him. Lotor on the other hand did not show any reaction.

 That was one of the reason Lance couldn't trust him. Lance read people by their reactions, their expressions, their body language. He couldn't on the prince though, and it wasn't the normal ‘this person is more concealed’ issue he sometimes had with new people. Lotor felt more ... _robotic? Wrong?_ Lance wasn't even sure how to explain it other than the man gave him an uneasy feeling.

 “I can come back later if you're busy,” Lance looked to Allura.

 It was Lotor who answered him though. “No, it's alright. I'm needed somewhere else,” he looked at something in front of him before looking up and smiling at Allura, “I'll contact you later, my princess.”

 Oh, so she was now _his_ princess. Well, they're escalating quickly. _Interesting_ ... actually no, that was just _ew._ That guy was creepy. And that's where Lance stood.

 Allura turned to him once the call ended, “So?” she raised an eyebrow. “What do you want to talk about?”

 Lance rubbed the back of his neck, “Um, I wanted to apologise, about earlier. If I said something that ... upset you, I'm sorry.”

 Technically Lance wasn't sorry about what he'd said. He'd just voiced a reasonable doubt. What he was sorry was that it had upset _her,_ and he didn't like just leaving things untended. He valued his friendships with ... _anyone,_ really, more than that. So he was there to fix that. It didn't mean he was planning to change his mind about Lotor without any given proof to trust the man, specially not after what Keith had said.

 When Allura didn't say anything, just continued to stare at the floor with a frown, Lance continued, “Okay I don't know how Altean manners work but this is the part when you say you're sorry too.”

 It took her some time to sigh before looking up, “I _am_ sorry. I was ... a little out of line.”

 _A lot_ , but Lance took whatever he got. Besides he wasn't the one she should say that to. He smiled at her, “It's fine, but you should probably say that to Krolia.”

 Her frown was back again as she crossed her arms in a stubborn way that told Lance she wasn't planning to.

 “Look, I know you and Lotor are ...” Lance paused. Okay, seriously, couldn't they at least announce their relationship or _whatever_ it was so people could refer to it, without sounding like they were intruding? Should he just call it _dating?_ He decided to just settle for something more vague, “you guys have a thing, but you can't just go around talking to people like that. And it's really unfair of you to talk about the galra like that .” She had insulted anyone galra, and Keith took things like that way too close to heart for Lance's comfort not to say anything about it.

 “You think we have a thing?” Allura whispered, making a giddy smile.

 Lance made sure to give her his least impressed face, “Really? that's what you got from that?”

 Her expression changed quickly as she looked down, “I know. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to. I just,” she paused her face setting, “I do not like it when people talk about Lotor like that.”

 “Yeah, well, I don't like it when you talk about galra like that.”

  “You mean you don't like it when I talk about _Keith_ like that,” the mischievous smirk on her face had come out of no where, “Which is pretty interesting because you just compared what Lotor is to me to what Keith is to you. And you just said me and him have a _thing._ So what does that imply about you and Keith?” she placed a hand under her chin, looking at him expectantly.

 Lance could only stare at her, stunned by the sudden ridiculous based logic rant that seriously came out of no where. He spoke up before his face would warm up, “That's- _What?_ That's ... _Don't change the subject, Allura!_ ” he blurted out.

 “Uh-huh, sure, _I'm_ changing the subject.”

 “That was not the point and you know it,” he pointed a finger at her laughing figure. He really hadn't meant just Keith, but also his mom and all of the blade were getting insulted by her too. That wasn't fair to them, after everything they'd done. 

 “The point was I know you care about Lotor, but I-we're just worried. You can't just give him your trust—”

 “But I _can_. I trust him, Lance,” she cut him off, looking at him in all seriousness, “I know everything he's done, but I believe him when he says it was with good intentions. He's done enough to prove himself. I believe him. I Just I do. I trust he's a good man.”

 She smiled softly looking at the corner. Wow, if there was gonna be a picture for the word lovesick in encyclopaedia that would be it.

 Lance's brain was inappropriate enough to suggest maybe he should show her that old meme that said ‘ _Stop thinking with your dick’_. He took a moment to slap his brain in the face for its asshole-ish suggestion.

 Besides she was very clearly thinking with her heart, and apparently that's exactly what Lance did in trusting the others so how could he blame her for that? How could he trust his guts and expect her to do the exact opposite?

 The problem was where his heart was telling him not to trust Lotor, hers told her to do just that. It was in that moment that Lance finally realised she would only change her mind about the man if _Lotor,_ himself did something to raise her suspicions. Otherwise there was no amounts of telling her that would make her see him differently.

 Lance took a moment to take that in. “Okay. if that's what you truly believe then I'm gonna respect that, I don't agree with you, but I'll respect it. Can I just ask something in return?”

 Allura seemed rather surprised by his words. “Um, sure?”

 “Even if it's someone you care about if they do something questionable, it's okay to ask for an explanation. Trust shouldn't be completely blind, specially if there's evidence that tells you otherwise. Just consider that. That's all I'm asking,” Lance tried to choose his word as sensitive as possible.

 She stared forward for a few moments before answering, “Okay, I'll ... keep it in mind.” Her frown turned to a smile as she looked up at him, “You keep surprising me by how much you've grown.” She leaned to ruffle his hair before he could dodge. He swatted her hand away, not unkindly but he did still give her a glare.

 “But you know, you could listen to your own words. There's someone else around here that they apply to.” 

 Lance wasn't in the mood to get into an argument about Shiro. _“Anyway,_ I'm gonna let you go back to ... whatever you were planning on doing.” he said.

 It was on his way to the door when he turned to say something. Yet, the words caught in his mouth when he saw Allura sitting on her bed, the crystal from the other day in her hand. She was still playing around with that? “You're still working on that thing?”

 “Well, you see when someone starts working on something, they don't usually stop till they get the wanted results. So _yes,_ I'm still working on this thing.” She looked up with amusement. Lance only made a face at her sassy tone.

 “But I've made some progress.” She nodded for Lance to come closer. He returned the way he'd made, sitting at the end of the bed.

 He observed as Allura moved her hand around the crystal drawing something that shone purple out of it.

 The crystal lay on the bed in a grey lifeless color now, like all its essence had been drawn from it which was unsettling, yet not as much as the purple glowing orb in between Allura's hands. It looked plain out _wrong._ Even from this far Lance could feel the wrongness of its energy.

 “Now, watch this,” she said with focused eyes. She pulled her hands on either side of the orb. It slowly pulled into two direction, until two different globes formed in either of her hands. She pointed to the one glowing in turquoise light, “This is pure quintessence.” She pointed to her other hand, “And this, this is the corruption.”

 She took her hand closer to her face studying it closely. Honestly, Lance had no idea why she thought that was a good idea. Even half way across the bed Lance wanted to place more distance between himself and that ... that thing. It looked, _felt_ more wrong than the original globe. It was brighter, it glowed even brighter at the center, and god, Lance could've sworn it was moving.

 “I've been trying to separate them,” she returned the dark hovering orb back to the crystal, weirdly it made it look almost red. “but it's very unstable.” The crystal began vibrating, and Lance could see cracks spreading across it until Allura let the quintessence orb in her other hand join the stone. Then It sat still in its normal purple color again.

 “Okay,” was all Lance said, it was like watching a live magic show.

 “I need to find a way to stabilize it but I can't figure it out.” She said holding the crystal up with a frown.

 “Maybe ask Pidge for help?” Lance offered.

 “I tried, she said she hated magic and left the room.”

 Lance huffed a laugh, “Yeah, she hates things she doesn't understand. Actually so do I. What is the point of all this?” he pointed to the crystal, “You know, beside looking exceptionally cool.”

 “The point is if I can make it work, we'll have a way of extracting and purifying the corruption from the galran crystals from any of the ships or really anything with corrupted quintessence.” She gave him an expectant look.

 Anything with corrupted quintessence? “Oh, you mean the robeasts? Cause it would be awesome if we could use those things against themselves.”

 She blinked a few times at him, “I mean, I guess that could work in theory, yes. But I don't think she's planning on making any more of those. And that wasn't really what I was thinking.”

 Lance raised an eyebrow at her.

 “I was thinking more of ... people.”

 “People?”

 “Well, more precisely druids.”

 “Druids?” Lance questioned, “I thought Lotor said they vanished or something?”

 “Yes, they did. Just when Haggar did.”

 Oh. “We're thinking they followed her?”

 She nodded.

 Well, great, an army of creepy witches. What could go wrong with that? A small shiver ran through him, he couldn't help it. Sentries, empire soldiers, that he could deal with, even the ones who were exceptionally good fighters. But people who shot electricity from their hand and teleported? Well, let's say Lance was happy he'd never had the misfortune of having to fight one up close. He'd managed to shot more than a few from a far though. Keith, on the other hand, had had the misfortune and he seemed to have hated it. Not to mention what had happened to Shiro when going up against Haggar. If both of their best fighters had struggled that much while fighting the druids, what would happen if they had to against that many? Wait, exactly how many of them were there?

 The thought of those scary people all standing in a line for Zarkon's witch to get a census on their population momentarily amused him. It was a very brief moment though.

 “So you're planning on using it as an _I'm gonna take your own power to fight you_ thing? Cause I can get behind that.”

 She shook her head, “Oh, no. I'm not planning on using this _against_ them, I'm planning on using it to help them.”

 “Help ... them?” Lance questioned.

 She nodded.

 “Allura, you do realize they want to kill us, right? I think helping them would be a little counter productive to our selves.”

 She made a small snort. “I don't think that would still be their goal afterwards.” Her eyes were serious when she continued, “And I think it's interesting how much control they do seem to have on quintessence. There are only a few species who can do that. And it's also interesting how they're always hiding their faces behind those masks.”

 Lance frowned. Where was she going with this? The gears in his brain set in place as she added the last piece of the puzzle.

 “And the only one of them who we ever did saw their faces was Haggar, who was—”

 “Altean,” Lance finished. “You-you think they're Altean.”

 Allura smiled.

 “You think they're all Altean?”

 “I'm _hoping_ they are.”

 Lance sat there taking that in. Alteans? Alive? He really wished he could congratulate Allura on that. But even on the low chance that that was possible ... “Allura, if that's true, then that means they've been following Zarkon for who knows how long, and now they're siding with Haggar. Do we really—”

 “But what if they haven't?” she cut in, “What if they haven't been doing this by choice? What if she's somehow controlling them with this corrupted quintessence.”

 “Um, is that even possible?” he questioned.

 “Maybe? Probably?” She shrugged, “Wouldn't be the first time she's done something we've thought impossible. And it's the only possible explanation for Alteans helping Zarkon.”

 “Or they could be doing that just because they want to. Haggar did,” Lance pointed out. He kept his voice as gentle as possible.

 “No, Lance,” Allura shook her head, “There's no way that many Alteans would follow the galra ... the _empire_ like that, not after what they did to our planet. They're my people. I know they're better than that.”

 She looked optimistic enough that Lance decided against pointing out that they had met murderous Alteans before, _and_ that race or species had nothing to do with how good or bad people were, _and_ that it'd been ten thousand years since they counted as _her_ people per se.

 “So, we're on helping people come back from the dark side mission now, that's ... cool.”

 She looked at him with a small laugh, “Yeah, though first I need to find a way to stabilize this without using more quintessence that we could ever have.” She looked down, doubt was clear in her face, in the way her shoulders dropped.

 “Hey, if there's one person who can do this, it's you. I mean come on, you revived a freaking planet, I'm pretty sure there isn't anything you can't do. I have like zero doubts you're gonna figure something out.” 

 She looked up hopefully, “You think so?”

 “Oh, I know so.” He smiled at her reassuringly.

 “But why didn't you say anything about ... all this sooner?” he asked after a second.

 “Oh, I haven't told anyone yet, beside Lotor. Well, more like he told me, this was his idea.” Wow, funny how quick everything turned a hundred times more suspicious to Lance because of a single sentence, “I can't believe I didn't ever consider it myself. I mean we're not really sure of any of this. I'm just hoping it is, but if it's not, I didn't want Coran ...” she trailed off.

 “You don't want to give him false hope,” Lance supplied.

 “No, I don't,” she smiled sadly, “He's already lost so much. I don't want him to believe there really are more of our people out there in case I'm wrong.”

 Well, that was understandable.

 She looked up again, “So I'm gonna have to ask you not to tell anyone.”

 “Oh. I mean sure, but it'd be better if we could tell the team,” it wasn't that he couldn't keep a secret, it was just that he'd been on the uniformed part of the team far too many times, and he couldn't say he liked it, besides, “I really don't like keeping things from people.”

 He didn't like the smirk that showed on her face, “You mean you don't like keeping things from _Keith.”_

 Could she stop saying _Keith_ like that? “Oh my god, Allura, I'm not talking about Keith every single time I open my mouth.” He threw his hands in the air, even if in this particular scenario he'd been referring to Keith.

 “Well, maybe not every single time, but I think it comes pretty close.”

 Lance squinted at her, “You're getting worse than Pidge, you know that?”

 “Aw, thanks, I'm gonna take that as a compliment.”

 “It _wasn't_ one.”

 “Of course it was,” she waved her hand, “besides, Lance, when two of the smartest people on this ship agree on something, you might wanna listen to them,” she wiggled her eyebrows. The wiggling went on for a pretty long time.

 “Allura, you might be a girl, my friend, and a princess but don't think that's gonna stop me from punching you in the face if you don't stop doing that,” he pointed to her brows.

 She snorted, “Please, like you could ever land a punch on me.”

 “Fair enough,” he shrugged, “I can always find other ways to get back at you though.”

 “Ooh, I'm _so_ scared, Lance,” she mocked.

 “You should be. I can hold a grudge for a very long time. Last time someone decided to provoke that, was Veronica and she woke up without a single hair on her head the next day.” He made sure the threat was clear.

 Her hands went to her hair protectively, “You wouldn't dare.”

 “Oh, I _would._ My sister's the scariest person I've ever met, and that includes everyone I've met in space, and I shaved her head not once, not twice but three times. Three times, Allura. You do _not_ wanna get on my wrong side.”

 She narrowed her eyes at him, “Well, now I'm never letting you anywhere near my hair again so I don't see how you would have a way to do that.”

 “I could always use some ... inside help,” he grinned, looking toward where four little figures that sat on the bed.

 “Pfft, you think my own mice are gonna work against me?” she rolled her eyes.

 “Okay, first of all they are _free_ mice, and second of all I think I've grown on them, besides I gave them pretty much my whole share of Hunk's cake yesterday, so they might be a little biased right now.”

 Allura did not look very nerved by that, “There's no way they're taking your side, right guys?”

 The silence from the mice that followed by was really awkward, but it didn't last long. The blue one began running on the bed, jumping to seat on Lance's knee.

  _“What?!”_ oh, wow the look on Allura's face was something.

 The other three didn't do the same. The yellow and green one just casually took a step towards him. The pink one took a look at them and then at Allura, just shrugging and following the others footsteps.

 Lance crossed his arms, looking at Allura victoriously.

 “This is betrayal,” she told the mice before looking at him, “fine, I guess I'll surrender.”

 Lance pretended he didn't hear her ‘ _for now’_ in favour of laughing with her.

 “So, um, does that mean I _can_ tell him?” he asked as casually as possible.

 Well, at least Allura gave him the grace of biting her lips not to laugh, _more._ “Fine, it's not like Keith's gonna run around telling people. Now, get out of here I need to work on this thing.” She pointed to the crystal.

 Lance stood up. He hesitated standing at the foot of the bed, “Allura, just promise you'll be careful with that. Cause you know last time ...” he trailed of just pointing to the holographic picture of Her and King Alfor that lay on the nightstand.

 She followed the direction, smiling at the picture, “Yeah, okay, I'll promise.”

 “Well, then, later princess,” he winked.

 It was right behind the door that he remembered he'd meant to say something before the crystal had distracted him, “Allura, you know that thing that you didn't mean to say about the galra? It'd be nice if you told Krolia that you didn't actually mean it.” He made sure he was out the door before adding, “And Keith too.” The Latter more than the former.

 There was a loud snicker, “Oh, you _really_ can't help yourself, can you?”

 “Shut up.” Lance thanked the door for closing as he felt his ears getting warmer.

 However the closed door didn't seem to stop her, “You're very protective, it's sweet.”

 “Shut up!” he said. “If one of you guys can do me the favour of biting her, that'd be pretty nice,” he called back to the mice as he heard her laugh.

 “ _Ow_ -Platt!”

 The pained cry was quick to follow. Lance couldn't help his snort.

 “That's it, you little traitor! You're banished till further notice.”

 Lance looked back as the door slid open, the blue mouse running out. He bend down to the floor, letting it climb his hand to sit on his shoulder.

 “Thanks, bud.” he said, laughing when the mouse winked. He held his fist for it to bump.

 Lance spent the time left till dinner in the bridge, going through the plan for tomorrow, memorizing the map of the space base, even though technically he was going to be in his lion. It was just their plans had a way of going wrong a lot and Lance had decided it was always better to be safe than sorry a long time ago.

 

 It was after dinner, Lance was warmly settled into his bed, t Platt next to him on the pillow when Keith's voice travelled through the wall next to him.

 “Lance?”

 “Yeah?”

 “Allura came to apologise to me, about being ... insensitive earlier.”

 “oh?” Lance made a sigh of relief.

 “Yeah ... did you have anything to do with that?”

 “No.” Allura would've apologise to him eventually, all Lance did was shorten the waiting time.

 There was a few moments of silence, “Thanks.”

 Keith's voice was so soft that Lance couldn't find it in him to deny it again. “Yeah, well right back at you.”

 “For what?”

 “What you said earlier. About trusting me. I, it means a lot Keith.”

 “I meant it.”

 “I know,” Lance whispered, he'd heard it clear in Keith's voice. “that's why it means a lot.” His hand came to sit on his chest tracing where Keith's fingers had lain earlier. The warm feeling was still there. Keith could make his heart feel warmer than he thought was possible. It had happened way too many times around Keith for Lance to call it convenient anymore. It was definitely because of Keith. The smile was voluntary and involuntary.

 How ever it dried on his face when he saw the face the mouse was making at him, “Shut up.”

 “I didn't say anything?”

 “Not you,” he told Keith before pointing his finger at the smirking mouse, “I swear if you tell Allura a word about this, Hunk will finally have some fresh meat to make food with.”

  _“What_ are you talking about?”

 “I'm not talking to you man, I'm talking to Platt.” Lance explained.

 “Um, Platt? Who's Platt, Lance?”

  _Wow,_ Lance suppressed a snort; Keith sounded like he was questioning Lance's sanity, also Platt looked very offended that Keith didn't know his name. “The blue mouse.”

 “The blue ... I _knew_ I heard something else in there.”

 “Wow, you always listening in here or something?” he teased. But the silence that followed him told him Keith might've taken it seriously, “I'm joking Keith. I know you can't help it. It's alright.”

 “So, what is it doing there?”

 “What everyone else do at this hour, sleeping.”

 “With you?”

 “Yeah, me and these guys have had a few sleepovers.”

 “Sleepovers With the ... mice? Why?” Keith questioned.

 “Why not? Besides, they're all soft and nice,” he petted the mouse in front of him, making it laugh in a squeak. “And I bet you think I'm nice and soft too, right?”

 The only answer he got was the mouse moving closer to squish it's cheek against Lance's. To be honest, that was more than enough of an answer.

 “I, uh ... what?”

 Lance snorted at Keith's voice, “Still talking to the mouse, buddy.”

  _“Oh.”_

 Keith's sigh of relief was loud enough for Lance to hear and well, Lance couldn't help it, “But now I'm curious to know what your answer is, and bear in mind that I'll be very offended if you don't think I'm nice and soft.”

 “I ... uh.”

 Lance really tried to bit back his laugh, he really did.

 “So why is it not sleeping in Allura’s room?”

 Subtle, Keith. Real subtle. “Because she kicked him out.”

 “Why?”

 “Because I asked him to bite her.”

 A small laugh followed, “What? why?”

 “Because she kept saying that you—” Lance caught himself before saying anything more.

 “Me?”

 “She kept saying your mullet isn’t as ugly as it is. I could not tolerate that kind of fabrication of the truth.” He improvised.

 “I doubt that, very much. The only one who's ever shown any kind of interest in my hair is you, Lance.”

 “Interest?” Lance gasped, “the only interest I have in mullet is my hatred for it.”

 “Sure. You know there's only so many times you can mention something and claim it's because you hate it. I believe Pidge has a word for it.”

 Keith's voice was teasing and playful and it made Lance's face feel warm. “How dare you Keith? How dare you doubt my absolute hatred for that haircut? The hatred that runs deep down to my bones and to my very soul?” _What?_ A guy had a reputation to maintain.

 “Well, you seemed to think it was pretty soft the other day. In fact if I recall correctly you didn't seem to be able to stop touching it.”

 “I ...” Lance felt his face going even warmer at getting called out like that. He got a hold of himself, “Really, Keith? You wanna go there? Cause I recall how _you_ reacted to that too.”

 Keith's answer came after a second. “I won't ever mention it again if you don't?”

 “Deal.” Not really. There was no way Lance was ever letting that go. Making Keith purr was now officially number one on his to do list.

 He jumped a little when he felt movement on his bed. Looking to see the cause; the other three mouse had showed up.

 “Hey, guys. What's up?”

 The only answer he got was the three running to hug the blue one.

 “Aw.”

 “What?”

“The rest of the rat gang just joined too. I think they don't wanna be separated. That's so cute, Keith,” he answered, reaching an arm to half hug all of them.

 “Yeah, I guess I'll have to take your word for it.”  
Lance almost threw out the option that he didn't have to, that he could join the sleep over if he wanted to, but he was pretty sure the mice would never let him live it down.

 “You're seriously gonna let them sleep in your bed, though?” Keith asked again.

 “Yeah, why not?”

 “Because they're ... mice? Mice! It's weird. It's Disney princess level of weird.”

 Lance laughed, “Wow, I'm surprised you even know what a Disney princess is.”

 “Just because I haven't seen any movie that ages more than a century doesn't mean I haven't seen movies in general, Lance.” 

 Lance wasn't sure how Keith managed to convey an eye roll through his tone, but he did. 

 “Not gonna lie, I'm not entirely sure I believe you. But of course _you_ would think Disney princesses are weird. I, on the other hand, have no problem with being one.” Okay, so some of those characters might've made some seriously questionable choices, Lance was still fine with it.

 “ _Of course_ you don't,” Keith huffed a laugh, “just to make it clear; if you start randomly singing, I'm leaving.”

 Lance snorted, “You can't leave your own room, Keith.”

 “I don't know, that couch in the lounge seems pretty nice for sleeping.”

 “Mullet, _no,_ you're not sleeping in the lounge the night before a mission. Your back is gonna hurt like hell tomorrow.”

 “Why are we having this discussion, are you planning on randomly breaking off to singing?”

 “No,” Lance couldn't help the smirk. Well, _now_ he was.

 “Then we don't have an issue.” Keith made a small laugh.

 “I guess.”

 “Hey, we're going on a mission,” Lance added after a second.

 “You sound excited.”

 “Probably because I _am_ excited,” even if something seemed up with this whole mission, he couldn't help but be excited. Keith was gonna be there with them. It'd been almost a year since the last time he'd joined the team for a mission. Lance was excited to have him around, sue him. “and so are you.”

 “Eh. It's fine.”

 “Really, Keith? You're gonna pretend you're not just as excited? You? _Mr. I hate doing nothing_ is not happy to go on a mission. You really think I'm gonna buy that?”

 “Fine,” The other boy huffed a laugh, “I guess I'm a little excited too.”

 “See? It's not that hard to admit. Really, you should stop with the edge lord act, everyone around here know how much of softie you are at heart.” Lance smiled. Even if he'd known that for a long time now, he still was an idiot for how long it'd initially taken him to see how soft Keith really was on the inside. To see how kind and sensitive he was on the inside. To see how caring and ... honestly just beautiful he was on the inside. He was just as pretty on the inside as he was on the outside. And he was really _really_  pretty on the outside, okay? 

 He looked up at the squeaks. _Right,_ he had company. He wasn't sure what expression he was making but whatever it was the mouse seemed to find it very amusing. He felt his face warm up at their laughs. He squinted at the tiny rodents, “Okay, you three just joined so I'm gonna repeat myself; if a single word of this gets back to Allura, the entire castle is gonna have a very nice mice barbeque. We clear?” he narrowed his eyes at the very-unbothered-by-the-threat mice.

 “I take it back. You can't be a Disney princess, I'm pretty sure none of those have ever tried to _eat_ their pet sidekick.” Keith's amused voice travelled through the wall.

 “Hey, I still can be one. I'm just a darker one.”

 A loud snort followed.

 “whatcha laughing at, mullet?”

 “I'm sorry, I just can't see you as anything dark.” Keith's voice was soft. Very very soft.

 “I can be a dark princess if I want to.”

 “No you can't.”  
Keith's next words were just a whisper. “You're like a ray of sunshine.”

 Keith's tone was quiet and barely audible and Lance would've thought he'd imagined hearing it if not for the faces the mice were making at him. But at least they had enough decency not to laugh at Lance when he's voice cracked as he spoke up, “You think I'm a ... ray of sunshine?”

 “What? I didn't, I—”

 “You didn't mean to say that out loud, did you?” he still had thought it. Holy shit, he actually thought that about Lance.

 Lance could see why anyone would call Hunk a ray of sunshine, but him? He was pretty sure most people, if they had to think of him as any kind of sunlight, would refer to him as that streak of light that came through the corner of the window bothering their eye, but Keith's voice had been adoring and fond, and _nothing_ in it told Lance that Keith thought of him as the annoying streak and okay, seriously his chest really needed to stop getting this warm at everything Keith did.

 “I ... yeah, I-I do think that. Goodnight.”

 Lance bit back his laugh at Keith's high voice, looking to the mice, “Which one of you wants to bet we're having a blushing mullet on our hand?”

 The four mice only laughed at the whisper none of them seem to want to take the bet though. What a shame.

 “I can hear you, you know.”

 “Oh, I _know.”_

 “You ... ugh! I'm not blushing.”

 “Okay, sure.”

 “Don't _sure_ me Lance. I'm not.”

 “Okay,” Lance paused a second letting Keith think he'd won the argument, _“sure.”_

  _“Lance!”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I was pretty upset that pride month was over but then we got Lance's birthday month, and Lance in a turtleneck and finger gloves, and JDS called klance ‘natural progression’, and then I saw there's gonna be a yuri on ice movie next year, so now I'm just sitting here like _What a fucking nice time to be alive_ (Forgive the cursing)
> 
> Sorry, I'm just having a good day, I want others to have one too :)


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, thanks so much for 600 kudos :)
> 
> Here, have a chapter of domestic Klance, with a side dish of cheesy pining Keith to soothe your soul ;)
> 
> * * *
> 
> _“Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”_
> 
> \- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

 Keith woke up ... actually _woke up_ wasn't the right word, more like he was rudely kicked out of the dreamland by the very loud noise.

  _What the hell is that?_

 It took him few seconds of just lying in his bed to recognize the annoying noise as music. It took him a few more seconds to realise it was coming from next door, and more seconds to remember the only _next door_ he had was Lance.

  _Of course, fucking Lance._

 It took him even more seconds to finally come to it, and then his hand was punching on the wall next to him.

 “What the hell, Lance?”

 The chuckle was quick to follow, “Good morning to you too, mullet.”

 “Turn that thing the fuck down.”

 “ _Language, Keith_.”

 It was too early in the day for Keith to be able to find Lance's perfect replica of Shiro's scolding voice funny.

 “Fuck off,” Keith groaned, pushing his face to the pillow.

 Lance snorted, “Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine in the morning.”

 Keith was still sleep enough not to care about Lance bringing _that_ up, didn't mean his face got the memo and the blood didn't rush to his face specially after Lance decided to comment on that again.

 “Blushing again, are we?” Lance's tone was the audible version of the word ‘ _tease’._

 _“Fuck_ _off_ ,” Keith emphasised, earning another laugh. “and what the hell are you listening to?”

 “It's when you put a few sounds made by instruments or even humans actually, next to each other to make a nice pattern of—”

 It took Keith few seconds of staring at the ceiling in confusion of what the other boy was on about before it hit him.

 “I know what music is, Lance,” he cut in ignoring Lance's little ‘ _do ya?’_ as he went on, “I meant _why_ are you listening to it in this ...” Keith didn't have it in him to turn on the bed to look at clock, but he just knew it was too early for this shit, “unholy time of the day?”

 “Unholy?” Lance snorted again, “You're really not a fan of mornings, are you, buddy?”

 Did he have to sound that cheery when Keith was trying to go back to sleep?

 “You can't see me, Lance, but I'm flipping you the bird.” He was, and actually that was cheering him up a little too.

 “Come on, mullet, you can't be mad at me for this, not when you gave me the idea _yourself.”_

 Lance seemed to give him a second to remember when he'd ever done that. Keith made a sigh at the memory of their late night talk. _Oh, come on,_ how was he supposed to know Lance was gonna do exactly that?!

 Yeah, okay, so he probably should've known.

 “And once you gave me that kind of gold idea, I couldn't not do it. That's like ... giving a five year old a lollipop and expect them not to lick it. I can't _not_ lick the lollipop, Keith.”

 That finally brought a laugh out of Keith, _idiot_. He should not think that that fondly. “You do realise you're calling yourself a five year old in that analogy, right?”

 “Eh.”

 Keith didn't need to be seeing him to know he was shrugging, “Whatever, just turn that down so I can go back to sleep?”

 “No can do, that would kinda throw my whole attempt of trying to wake you up to the wind, don't you think?”

  _“Lance—”_

 Keith didn't get to finish his sentence.

 “Sorry man,” Lance sounded sympathetic enough, “but you gotta wake up. And we've got only thirty minutes left till we're leaving so I'm not sure exactly how much sleep you can get.”

 “What? That's impo ...” the word got caught in his throat as he turned to see the time: **9:23**

  _What the hell?_

 Keith sat up on his bed quickly enough to give himself a whiplash. “Shit,” He rubbed on his neck with his hand. Jesus christ, he couldn't remember the last time he'd overslept. No, he _really_ couldn’t. He always woke up at seven thirty straight. After years of doing the same he didn't even need an alarm, his body just woke up naturally at that time. And sure his sleeping cycle has lengthened since he'd returned to the castle, but, for what ever reason that had happened, it only meant he could sleep easier at nights. _This,_ this was a first.

 “Okay, okay, I'm awake. You can turn that down if you want.” He called to Lance as he ran to the bathroom. He probably took the quickest shower of his life just to get the rest of the sleep out of himself. He put on the marmoran suit as fast as he could leaving his room.

 He hesitated in front of Lance's door, though; music was still playing, Lance humming along side it.  
“You planning on leaving any time soon?” he asked.

 “Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Actually can you come inside for a second?”

 The door opened up at Lance's voice, Keith stepping inside. Lance was standing in the corner of the room he had the black suit on, without any of the white armour. He was putting on the plates on his arm.

 Whether Keith wanted to or not his brain took a moment to appreciate Lance's form in the suit, and to wonder if they really needed the armour plates cause Lance was looking fine without them.

 Very _very_ fine.

 Keith shook his head to get the thoughts out before they would start showing on his face. He raised his eye brow at Lance, “So?”

 Lance smiled at him, pointing behind him, “Help yourself out.”

 Keith turned around to the table. He walked closer to get a closer look at the small tray sitting on the table. “I, uh,” the small huff of laughter that escaped him was involuntary as he looked back at Lance, “you made me breakfast?”

 “No, I didn’t _make_ anything,” Lance waved a dismissing hand, “I just saved you some.”

  _Right,_ because Coran had enough time to make them tea and toast and cookies right before a mission and didn't usually just give them goo.

 Keith picked up the cup of tea, taking a sip.

  _Right,_ because Coran would know he didn't like sugar in his tea, even though Keith has never told that to anyone. _Right,_ Coran definitely put the time to make an smiley face on his toast. Obviously Coran made this for him, why would Keith ever doubt that?

 “So did your little rodent friends help out in making this?” he asked after some time.

 “Yes actually, they _did,_ and what do you have against them, man?”

 “Nothing,” Keith didn't bother to hide his smirk behind the cup as he looked up at Lance, “and I thought you _didn't_ make this.”

 “I ...” Lance only stared at him for a second before turning around to put on the armour plate of his other arm. He must've heard Keith's laugh; “shut up.”

 Instead of staring at the growing color on Lance's ears and neck, Keith busied himself with the breakfast made for him. Lance had really gone and done something that sweet, which really _shouldn't_ be that surprising; everything he did was sweet. Keith didn't even like sweet things, but who could not like someone that sweet?

 Keith could just kiss him for doing something this adorable, no, he _really_ could. All he needed to do was pull on those soft hands and voilà. What would happen if he did? Would the world stop? Or would heaven and earth finally decide that Keith had gone through enough in his life? Would they let him have that? That one single kiss?

 Keith shook his head, pushing the crazy thoughts out.

 “You know, you didn't have to go to all this trouble, you could just wake me up.”

 “Right, because that was so easy doing now,” Lance turned to give him a look. Keith tried not to feel too guilty over giving him that much shit over it earlier. “And I tried, man. I called you at least a dozen times, but you were _not_ having any of that,” Lance chuckled walking next to him, “I believe at one point you told me to go do something very un-christian-like to myself. And then you suggested I should shove our lion up my,” Lance didn't finish his sentence. He only grinned leaning in to pick one of the _biscuits._

 Keith could only stare as he dipped it in the cup in Keith's hands, eating it without a care, like Keith hadn't been drinking from that very same cup. He supposed that was normal for someone in a big family. Still, that thing had Keith's saliva in it, why Lance so okay with that?

 In fact, If Keith thought about it, this could count as them kissing indirectly. Keith internally cringed at his _seven-year-old-er_ way of thinking. _Really, Keith?_

 “Sorry, I don't even remember saying any of that. I just, it's mornings, they make me a bit—”

 “Grumpy?” Lance finished for him, even if that hadn't been what Keith meant to say. “Yeah, I _know,”_ Lance grinned at him, bumping his shoulder as he went back to putting on the rest of his armour.

 Keith wished he could say there was any parts of him that had it in them to glare at Lance, he really did. He went back to finishing his tea, leaning his back to the table. It was Lance humming to the song that brought his attention to the tablet sitting on the nightstand. It was only then that he realized at how much of a low volume, for a normal person, it was playing. He doubted the volume had been anything higher than that, even when it had woken Keith up. Right, because even when Lance was being an absolute little shit, he had to be sweet enough to consider the fact that sounds sounded much louder for Keith. He just _had_ to, didn't he? He just had to be that nice, didn't he? As if Keith wasn't completely screwed already. _Are you fucking messing with me right now, universe?_ He took a second to look up, glaring at whoever was in charge up there.

 “What are you even listening to? I don't think I've ever heard this song before.” Keith asked.

 “Like your uncultured ass has ever heard any real music in its life, all you listen to is probably emo dark metal music,” Lance batted his eyelash at Keith's glare at him, “fine, so it might be a few generations older than us.”

 Knowing Lance, he raised his eyebrow, “A few?”

 “A few, couple, dozen generations,” Lance corrected. He shrugged, “What can I say? I'm a sucker for the oldies.”

 Keith shook his head, even though he was smiling as he put away the cup.

  _“What_ are you doing?” he demanded as he looked back at Lance again, a laugh escaping him at the absurd way Lance was moving to the beat while trying to put his armour on.

 “oh this? You see, it's usually an arrangement of movements that go in rhythm with the music—”

 Keith narrowed his eyes at him for doing _that_ again before cutting in, “I _also_ know what dancing is.” He said as patient as possible.

 “I don't know. From what I remember, you _really_ don't,” Lance whispered, bringing Keith back to a memory.

 It wasn't that long after they set foot in space. One of the first planets they saved had decided to throw them a ball. Allura had been very furious and _very_ disappointed to know her paladins were a bunch of uncultured baboons who didn't even know how to properly dance in a gathering like that. Well, all except for Lance, who seemed to be having the time of his life showing off his skilled dancing both that night and the following day which the princess forced them to learn at least the basics of dancing, because _what are you? Cavemen?_ Keith wasn't even sure when Lance had time to pick up on alien Waltz but he had. He supposed if anyone could do that in five minutes it would be Lance.

 The point was Keith had seen his formal dancing and his casual dancing in later parties, and he was pretty great at both. What he was doing now, however, the dumb funny movements definitely did _not_ categorize under dancing. Keith could tell Lance was trying to make him laugh.

 “Please stop. _This,”_ he gestured towards Lance, “this is sealing into my brain.”

 Lance stuck his tongue out at him, “You're just jealous of my suave dance moves.”

 Keith laughed at the way Lance simultaneously wiggled his shoulders and eyebrows at him, “Yeah, that's why I wanna tear my own eyes out right now.”

 “Please, you just can't handle all this sexiness.” Lance gestured up and down himself, winking.

 Keith laughed again. Mostly at his own senseless brain, because Lance wasn't wrong. Which was _so_ dumb. Someone who was very clearly trying to look ridiculous, should not look that attractive. Keith should not stare at the mock movements of his hips like that, nor should it make his face feel that much warmer.

  _“Sure,_ if it's gonna make you stop, let's go with that.”

 “Nah, it's not. You know what would make me stop, though?” Lance looked at him with a dangerously big grin, “If you stopped standing there like a dry stick.”

 Keith gave him a flat look, “I don't dance.”

 Lance gasped, dramatically placing a hand on his chest, _“You,_ the stick up the butt mullet? you don't dance? Keith, this is, this is utter news to me. I am shocked down to my very core. This is changing my view on the whole universe. My life has been a lie up to this point.”

 “You done?” Keith demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

 Lance chuckled, “Yeah. And no one asked you to dance. I just said stop standing there like that. I can see you're fighting the beat. Stop fighting the beat, Keith. Let the beat in.”

 Lance did an arm wave, starting in his hand going through his arm to his shoulder and to his other arm, holding it towards Keith's direction for him to continue the wave. Keith made sure to stand as still as possible just staring at Lance.

 “Buzzkill,” Lance said pouting. “Well, if you're gonna just stand there with all your negativity, you might at least look into that box.”

 Keith turned to pick up the not so small metallic box sitting on the table. He took it into had but instead of opening it he squinted at Lance, “If a clown pops out of this, I'm gonna be very angry.”

 Lance snorted, “Aw, man, I can't believe I didn't think of that. That would've been so funny.”

 At Keith's half glare at him he continued, “Don't worry, nothing's gonna pop out of it. I promise.”

 So Keith opened it up, staring at what was Inside, “Your gun?” he questioned. It was the gun from the armoury, the one Keith had picked the first time they trained together, the one he had used every single time after that.

 “Actually now it's _your_ gun.”

 “I'm giving it to you,” Lance clarified after a second and at Keith's questioning look at him.

 “Lance, I'm pretty you can't give away something you _stole,”_ Keith pointed out. It didn't stop him from smiling.

 “Okay, first of all, it's not _stealing,”_ Lance pointed a finger at him, “I'm just relocating a few things from one point of the castle to another, it's merely _borrowing_. And secondly, this,” he pointed to the gun, “This is actually mine.”

 Keith held up the gun by its grip, “Yeah, I'm sure the very clearly Altean gun was your family heirloom,” Keith quirked an eyebrow at him.

 Lance laughed, “Alright, tone down the sarcasm, Mr. Sass masta. I never said it's my _family heirloom._ ” He walked to stand next to Keith, resting his elbow on Keith's shoulder as he picked the gun in his hands, “Coran gave this to me a little after the lion switches.”

 “Oh?”

 Lance nodded, “Yeah, he said it was because I reminded him of someone but I'm pretty sure it was just his way of thanking me for not being an absolute douche to you in your down moment.”

 Keith frowned, putting the empty box back on the table, “Lance, you were never a ... douche to me.”

 The way Lance raised his eyebrows at him brought a laugh out of him, “Alright, maybe you were a _little_ at first, but I was just as much of a douche to you back then.”

 “Okay, okay, you don't need to defend me to myself, Keith,” Lance laughed, his tone was different when he continued, “Besides, we're certainly not there anymore.”

 Blue eyes looked at him soft and fond and far too close and yet too far for comfort.

 “Yeah,” Keith agreed in a whisper.

 Lance pushed the gun into his hands, “So here, it's yours now.”

 Keith watched him go back to put on the chest plate, before looking down to the white hand gun, “Are you sure you want to give this to me, Lance? I mean it's a gift.” He asked gently. A gift from _Coran_ nevertheless, and Keith knew how much of a high place the man held in Lance's heart.

 “Yeah, which means it's mine to give to who I want, and I don't think Coran's gonna mind if that's you. It's not like it's going far now, is it?”

 Keith could hear the smile in his voice, which was why it killed him to point out, “Maybe not now, but when I go back to the blade ...” he trailed off, the point clear; who knew how far it would be then. Who knew how far _he_ would be then.

 Keith watched the small pause in Lance's movements, the small way his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed looking down, the small sigh. “Then,” Lance took a moment to take a breath in running his hand through his hair. Yet, there was a smile on his lips when he looked up at Keith. It was small but it was there. “then it'll be something to remind you of home.”

 Instead of letting all the thoughts get to him, instead of looking into those incredibly blue eyes, Keith decided to laugh alongside Lance at the way his _home_ had aligned with the same word in the song quietly playing.

 “It's your favourite gun though,” Keith reminded him after a second.

 “Yeah, well from one favourite to another, what's the big deal?” Lance shrugged. Now, there was nothing sad about _that_ smile.

 “Thanks, Lance,” Keith said to keep his brain from repeating _he called you his favourite_ at a rate of a thousand times per seconds. It did not seem to work.

 “Anytime,” Lance answered, sitting on his bed.

 Keith didn't really know where to put the gun, so he just opened one of the packs on his belt, trying to stuff it in there somehow. However, he stopped what he was doing, looking up at Lance's high voice.

 “Oh my god! I _knew_ it. I knew you would try and put it in one of those dumb things,” he face palmed himself.

 Keith shrugged, “What? It's not like I have anywhere-what are you doing?” he asked instead when he saw Lance leaning on his bed looking into the nightstand drawer.

 “Knowing the kind of heathen you are, I knew you would try something like that, so I thought ahead,” he looked up at Keith, holding what he'd found up by one finger.

 “Is that ... a thigh strap?” Keith questioned.

 “Yup, well I mean it goes with the gun holster,” he showed the said thing in his other hand, smirking, “but if you wanna call it that, who am I to stop to you?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

 “I'm not wearing that, Lance.”

 Lance deflated, “What? Why not? These things are hot and badass and you know it. I mean if I wasn't afraid the world would combust of my sheer hotness I would wear one myself, magical bayard or not.”

 Keith tried to stay as unbothered by the blue puppy dog eyes as possible. It was seemingly the hardest thing he's ever done, and that included fighting Zarkon himself.

 “Come on, mullet, it's better than putting a gun in a _fanny pack_. That's just dumb and unsafe. And this is faster to reach.”

 Okay, so he had some fair points.

 Lance must've felt Keith's acceptance; he leaned forward on the bed, raising the finger holding the strap in the air, “So, you gonna put it on, or should I put it on for you?”

 What was that smirk? What was that tone? Why was it making Keith's mouth dry and water at the same time? Fuck, Keith couldn't even tell if he was joking or not anymore.

 “No, I can put it on myself,” if Lance noticed how high Keith's voice was he didn't comment on it. Keith took the strap from him, taking a seat next to him. He gave Lance a half glare when the other boy threw the holster to his lap.

 He intended on putting it on but he got distracted by Lance. The other boy was whispering to the song while putting on his leg armour plates.

 _“‒ Jade?_  
_‒ Alexander?_  
_‒ Do you remember that day you fell outta my window?_  
_‒ I sure do‒you came jumping out after me._  
_‒ Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass, and you were bleeding all over the place, and I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?_  
_‒ Yes, I do._  
_‒ Well, there's something I never told you about that night._  
_‒ What didn't you tell me?_  
_‒ Well, while you were sitting in the back seat smoking a cigarette you thought was gonna be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you, and I never told you 'til just now!”_

 Even if he couldn't stop staring, a laugh escaped Keith as he watched Lance whisper along every single word of the lyrics.

 “Shut up.”

 It brought another laugh out of Keith, “I didn't say anything.”

 “You laughed. Which is worse because It's a good song and it's not my fault it's catchy, it's impossible not to sing with it.”

 “Okay,” Keith really tried to bit back his laugh at Lance's too defensive tone. He really did.

 Lance looked up to squint at him, “Shut up, Keith. It _is_ a good song.” He insisted, singing along to another part of it, “Oh home, let me come home. Home is whenever I'm with you. Oh, home, yes I am home. Home is when I'm alone with you.”

 “Come on, Keith. It's a good song. Stop judging me.” he added.

 “I, I wasn't judging you,” Keith said after a second.

 “You were staring at me,” Lance pouted, going back to closing his armour plates, “Which is not fair, how many choice of songs do you think I have up here? We had like about two hundred downloaded songs between all our phones. Half of mine and Pidge's were just meme crap. How many of the actual music ones do you think were happy ones? It's not like I had that wide range of choice. And I like to listen to happy songs when I'm in a good mood.”  He went on with his little rant, muttering.

 He had something right, though; Keith _had_ been staring at him. Not for the reason he thought though, not because Keith was judging him for his taste in music or whatever, but simply because he couldn't _not_ to. Not with the carefree way Lance sang along, not with the genuine way he said the words while looking at Keith. Keith was staring because he had to remind himself Lance wasn't saying the words to him, he was just singing along the song.

 “What is with the good mood, anyway?” Keith made himself ask.

 Lance perked up at that, looking up with a very big smile as he finished putting on the armour, “Because I'm excited? We're finally going on a mission together again.” He bumped Keith's shoulder before jumping off the bed.

 That was why he was all ecstatic? Because he was going on a mission with Keith? Even if their parts in the mission had nothing to do with each other? It was making him that happy?

 Keith had to look away from him. He'd been wrong before Lance wasn't a ray of sunshine. He was the freaking sun itself and if Keith looked too direct he was gonna go blind.

 He busied himself with putting on the holster as Lance turned the music off.

 “Alright, I'm ready to go whenever you are, buddy,” Lance said.

 Keith finished putting it on, standing up. He put the gun in place. “Hey, this is actually pretty nice. What do you ...” he looked up to see Lance was already looking at him through a frame made by his fingers, one eye closed. “think?” Keith finished, huffing a laugh.

 “Perfect, just as I thought,” Lance pointed towards the door for them to start walking, “Finally mullet, an acceptable item in you wardrobe.”

 “You're not planning on attacking my outfit again, are you? Cause I'm pretty sure the only things you didn't insult last time were my shirt and pants,” Keith sent him a side glare.

 It only made Lance snort, “That's not true. I've never had anything against the gloves,” he wiggled his fingers in front of Keith, “I like the gloves. And I'm not gonna say anything against your shirt and pants either. I like them. Actually for the same reason I like this suit so much,” he pointed toward the marmoran suit.

 There was something in his tone, or perhaps it was the look in his eyes as he looked Keith up and down, that urged Keith to ask, “Which is?”

 They were at the door. Lance waited for it to open before smirking at Keith. He leaned forward before Keith had a chance to retreat, not that he wanted to, his breath creating goosebumps over Keith's skin as he whispered to Keith's ear, “They're really _really_ tight, Keith.”

 What?

 Lance took a step back, winking at Keith.

 “Race you to the bridge?” he said, practically vanishing after that.

 Keith only could only stare forward.

  _Hold on a second, get back in here and explain yourself, McClain._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I'm trying to get my updating schedule under control. All I have to say for myself is that procrastination is a bitch, okay? And also it's like a billion degrees out there, so I'm kinda melting. But yeah I'm really gonna try and post as often as I used to :) 
> 
> Also for anyone wondering, the song is [Home by Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeros](https://youtu.be/DHEOF_rcND8)  
> Look, I don't care if its country or folk or cringey or dumb or whatever, I _like_ it. Sure, it's different to my usual taste in music, but it never fails to make me smile. Don't judge me, It's a guilty pleasure. I just like funny songs, okay?


	45. Chapter 45

 It took Keith some time to get a hold of himself, and his alarmingly red face, and start running after Lance. Unfortunately, it seemed like that was all the other boy needed. By the time Keith had arrived at the bridge Lance was already standing next to Shiro talking to him. However, he did look up as Keith stepped in the room and the little shit had the audacity to _smirk._

 Keith's leg began working without him needing to tell them. The fact that he wasn't exactly sure what he was planning on doing with Lance once he got a hold of him didn't seem to stop him. What did stop him was a hand shoving something into his chest. Keith reacted instinctively catching it before it fell to the ground, it was a small flsh drive. He looked at the figure next to him, “Pidge, what the hell?”

 Pidge, un-fazed by him, carried on to give another similar flash drive to Krolia. She was standing a little farther from Keith. Pidge pointed to the usb drives, “Now, like Shiro said yesterday, and I repeated earlier this morning when _some_ people were missing,” she narrowed her eyes at Keith. He only shrugged as she continued, “you need to connect these to the communication rooms' computers. I've added the maps to both of your communicators, so you'll know exactly where to go. I'm gonna say it again. _Both_ of them should get connected or I can't get access to the intel. Their data seemed to be annoyingly heavily protected, so I can't find a way in without two points of access,” she frowned, shaking her head, “and actually very different to the normal galra intel protection protocol. I've never seen anything like it. Which doesn't make any sense, up to this point they always used the same coding. I've been trying to figure out why—”

 “Whoa, hey, it's alright,” it was Lance who interrupted her very clearly nervous rant, wrapping a hand around her shoulder. He smiled at her, before looking at Keith and Krolia, “They got this, right?”

 Keith decided against glaring at him for earlier since he was trying to calm her down—and Keith really didn't want her to go into one of her long scientific rambles—he nodded alongside Krolia.

 “Okay, then,” Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, “You just need to connect these into system and I'll do the rest. It shouldn't take anything more than a minute for me to back up all the data, and then you can get out of there.”

 “Okay,” Keith nodded.

Since the galra base was heavily guarded from outside, Voltron was going to fight them, and distract the forces from outside, while Keith and Krolia sneaked in the base to gather the information.

 “Alright, if everyone is clear on their roles let's get to the lions,” Shiro announced.

 “Actually, Can I go with Lance?”

 A moment of silence followed Keith's question as everyone in the room turned to look at him with wide eyes.

 He could understand _why._ Lance's piloting skills, well, they weren't exactly _pleasant._ Not that Lance was a bad pilot. Keith had taken back the statement quite a long time ago, at least internally he had. The way Lance piloted his lion was ... well, Keith could describe it like his fighting. He pulled surprising at the last second moves with the lion, which made sense of why he was the one who got his lion damaged the most— Well, that and the fact that he had a habit of jumping in front of the other lions if they were in danger—The directions he took seemed random, at least to anyone that wasn't _him._ The risks he took were everything they had told them not to do back at Garrison. And now Keith could see why Iverson had so much problem with the other boy's flying—Yes, that was one of the things he did remember about Lance—Iverson believed in going by the book, pulling any kind of move against the norm set him off. And while Keith had been around enough to know that so he could at least pretend to do that when the annoying instructor was around, Lance didn't had that luxury. But if Iverson hadn't been such a strict pain in the ass, he would've been able to see that asking Lance to fly by the rules was like asking him not to be himself. Lance had that way of doing everything his way and he seemed to have fun doing it and make it work.

 So yeah, Keith no longer thought he was the worst pilot ever.  Did not mean being in his lion was any easier though. One could not be in the same lion as Lance without risking to throw up. Keith simply missed flying in red, so that was a risk he was willing to take.

 Allura was the first one to speak up, “This has never happened before.”

“No one ever _asks_ to be on the same lion as Lance,” Hunk added. Wow, he seemed more green in the face by the thought of it alone.

“Why the hell would anyone willingly condemn themselves to that kind of ... torturing piloting?” Pidge demanded.

 “Shut it, Pidge,” Lance said, wrapping an arm around Keith's neck, “my piloting is great. Why do you think they called me the tailor?”

 “Literally nobody has ever called you that besides yourself.”

 Pidge was quietened by Lance placing his index finger on her lips, _“Shush._ If mullet wants to ride with me then he can ride with me.”

She swatted Lance's hand away, sticking her tongue out at him.

 “Ride _with_ you? More like he wants to ride _you.”_

 It was in moments like this that Keith truly cursed the galran over sensitivity allowing him to hear Pidge's whisper when no one else had. Also the way she grinned at him told him she knew that too. Keith glared at her, opening his mouth to give her some sort of answer. He didn't get to though as Shiro spoke.

 “Actually, he can't.” 

 Lance turned to Shiro, “What? Why not?” 

  “Because he's coming with me.”

  “Oh, come on, Shiro. What's the big deal? He can come in red,” Lance told the man, voice all cheery.

Shiro frowned, “I said he's coming with me. That was the plan, and that's how it's going to go. Are we clear?”

 Lance's hand was still around Keith's shoulder, so he was close enough for Keith to see the little flinch he did at Shiro's tone. And, boy, did that make Keith's hands to curl into fist, or perhaps it was the millisecond lasting expression on the boy's face before he said, “Yes sir.”

 “Good.” Shiro asserted, walking back next to Coran.

 Lance stared at him for a second before turning to Keith with a smile, “Um, so next time? Maybe you can take red for a quick drive later if you want.” He whispered.

 Of course he knew why Keith had suggested that.

 “Yeah.” Keith smiled at him.

 “We don't have all day,” Shiro's voice startled them both. The man made a _start moving_ motion with his hand.

 “Alright, Let's get going, guys.”

 Funnily it was Lance's words that made everyone else move. Keith only had taken a few steps when a hand wrapped around his wrist stopped him. Keith turned around, knowing it was Lance. Looking down to their conjoined hands, he raised an eyebrow at Lance.

 Lance was quick to let go, his hand falling back to his side. Yet, he did the motion in a way that his fingers grazed passed Keith's on the way, “Sorry, I just,” he looked up with a smile in contradiction to everything going on inside those stormy eyes, “be careful out there, okay?”

 Keith didn't even get a chance to answer.

 “I'm sorry, Why don't the rest of us get a _be careful out there?_ Why is Keith just so _special_ for you?” Pidge wiggled her eyebrows.

 Lance did a small jump looking at her head popped between them, “Jesus, where did you even come from?”

 Good question; Keith could've sworn she was half way across the room a second ago. 

 “Don't dodge the question. Why does Keith get a special be careful?”

 “I, um, because ...”

 “Yeah?” Pidge drawled, demanding.

 Lance's face seemed a little coloured, “I don't know. Maybe because ... he's gonna be in direct action while the rest of us are gonna be in metallic gigantic lions?!”

 Her smirk was down right evil as she crossed her arms looking at Lance, “Hmm, you hesitated. I'm not sure that's the real reason.”

 Keith pinched the bridge of his nose as Lance groaned looking up, “Oh my god, get off my back, Pidge. Can't someone be nice around here anymore without getting accused of ... _things?”_

Things? Keith sent him a questioning look but he didn't acknowledge it.

 “Nope,” Pidge shook her head, “not when there's _this_ fucking high amount of niceness going on,” she pointed between the two of them.

 Ugh, did they really have time for ... whatever this was right now?

“Okay, you know what?” Lance placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a mock smile, “You should be careful out there, too. _There,_ now I've said it to you too. You happy?”

 She stroked her chin, “I don't know, I didn't quite get the same vibe from that to what you were giving off to Keith earlier.”

 Lance just threw his hands in the air, taking a dramatic inhale. Yet a weirdly calm smile spread over his face, “You know it's a true shame you're so short, Pidgeon. It would be _so_ unfortunate if I accidentally elbowed you in the face with these,” he pointed to his arms, “what do you usually call them? Oh yeah, _chicken leg_ arms.” 

 Keith hid his snort behing his hand.

 Pidge looked like she could not care less about the threat, “You know Lance, it's a shame you're a fucking giraffe. It would be so unfortunate if I accidentally kicked you in the shin repeatedly.”

 A small laugh escaped Keith at her precise mimic of Lance's tone. It caused Lance to send him a side glare, before asking, “How do you _accidentally_ kick someone _repeatedly?”_

 “Do you want to find out?”

 Lance took a step back, “Nope, thanks. I think I'm good not knowing.”

 “That's what I thought, don't fuck with someone you can't take down, bitch.”

 Lance scoffed, placing a hand on his hip pointing the other at Pidge, “I'm not gonna pretend I can take you down, cause we all know no one can. But you can't talk to me like that. ” 

 “Watch me.” 

 Lance squinted at her before turning around, “Shiro, Pidge just said the f word like at least three times.” He seemed to regret it the seconds the words left him though.

 Shiro looked up at them with knitted eyebrows, “What are you three still doing here? I told you to get to the hangers. Do you not understand that this is a time sensitive mission?”

 Keith frowned. It really was _not._ It's not like the place was going anywhere.

 “Sorry Shiro, my bad. I kept them,” Lance said even though it had been Pidge who kept them there. Keith doubted Lance would ever let her take the blame. Well, in things that mattered.

 Shiro made sure to send him an scowl, “Get going.”

 Keith saw the way Pidge frowned at Shiro, he could understand why, before she turned to hiss ‘ _snitch_ ’ at Lance.

 It brought a laugh out of Lance, he was quick to stop looking back. It was a horrid moment for Keith to realize the other boy was making sure Shiro hadn't heard it.

 Okay, this needed to stop. Whatever was going on with Shiro needed to stop. It was starting to seriously hurt the team. _Lance_.

 “Gremlin,” Lance whispered back. Yet Keith saw the tender look on his face as he watched Pidge's figure walk away.

 “Hey,” Keith said, taking his attention, “you be careful too, okay?”

 “Pfft, I'm always careful,” Lance put his helmet on before smirking at him, “besides, we both know red would never let anything happen to her nicer paladin.”

 Yeah, thank god for ... _wait._

 _“_ I'm nice.”

 Lance made a so-so gesture with his hand.  
He grinned when Keith squinted at him, “Yeah, I suppose you're pretty nice ... unless it's a morning.” he winked, stepping in the elevator that led to their lion. “Hasta la later, Keith.” 

 Keith rolled his eyes at him. Yet his smile stayed with him as he followed Shiro to the black lion. It didn't stay with him for much longer than that though, maybe because of Shiro's deep frown, maybe because of the tense atmosphere that fell in the lion as he began piloting. Perhaps that was why Keith tried to get rid of it even without noticing.

  _“Ha,_ I told you it's a catchy song,” Lance's voice came through the comms. 

 Keith spent a few seconds in confusion before he realised he was humming the song from earlier unconsciously.

 “I never said it wasn't, Lance,” Keith said, thankful for something to fill the uncomfortable silence.

 “Is that home? I swear to god, Lance, if you're gonna start listening to that song again,” Pidge complained.

 Hunk agreed, “Yeah, I mean I used to like that song but I'm this close to barfing if I hear you sing it ever again.” 

 None of them could see how much ‘ _this close_ ’ was, but it was always safe to assume Hunk was _very_ close to throwing up.

 There was a scoff from Lance, “It's a good song, you people just have poor taste.” 

 “Yeah, you're the only one with the—” 

 “Guys, enough,” Shiro cut Pidge off, “we can deal with Lance's grandpa-ish taste in music later.” 

 Keith took a step closer to black's seat to stare at Shiro at his sudden change of mood.

 The others must be feeling the same shock as him, a few moments of silence followed before Lance's image popped up on the corner of black's screen, “Shiro, come on man, I thought someone your age would take my side.” 

 “My ... age? How old do you think I am?” 

 “I don't know? _Old?”_

_“Lance.”_

 Keith didn't even bother hiding his snort at Shiro's dad voice. His scolding tone had no amount of malice in it, unlike earlier.

 Lance's head on the screen turned to him, “Stop laughing at me, mullet.” 

 “Or what?” Keith leaned closer to black's panel, he quirked an eyebrow at the image, “What are you gonna do—” 

 “I said _enough.”_ Shiro silenced Keith with the stern tone. Keith could only stare at him, the amount of hostility in that single word hurt.

 “Hunk, activate Yellow's invisibility,” the man said as they entered the enemy territory. He did the same for black. “cover us.” He ordered.

 The three other lions were supposed to take the enemy forces attention while Shiro and Hunk dropped him and Krolia on either sides of the base.

 Keith waited for black to get closer, getting ready to exit the lion when he got called by Shiro.

 “Keith, wait, I don't think you should—” 

 Shiro caught himself abruptly in the middle of the sentence so Keith looked up but his view of Shiro was shielded by the pilot seat. “I shouldn't what?” he asked. 

 “Shiro, you okay?” Keith called again when the man didn't answer him.

 Shiro's reply came after a second, tone icy, “Yes.” 

 “Are you sure? If you're not feeling well—” 

 “I'm fine. It was nothing. Start moving.” 

 Keith could only stare at the back of the man's seat. He'd noticed the mood swings a few times now. It usually happened in more relaxed times, like during a meal. Shiro would be frowning then one second going all ... well, _Shiro,_ normal, kind Shiro and then he would be immediately go back to scowling. Keith tried to focus as he jumped out of the lion, he could deal with all that later.

 He sneaked inside, hiding behind the entrance hallway. He opened up the map Pidge had talked about on the small panel on his hand, looking for directions. Crouching behind a pillar, he waiting for any soldiers near to pass. If there was a single upside to his galran heightened senses, it was its use in situations like this. _That's weird._ He couldn't hear anything, as in he couldn't hear _anything._ He extended his hearing but still nothing, no sentries' moving clatter, no chatter between soldiers, or even heartbeats, nothing but the humming sounds of machine in space. 

 Keith as careful as possible passed a few more halls following the course showing on the map on his hand. _His_ goal was not to be seen, but he should be able to see the galra soldiers or sentries. But there weren't any. That didn't make any sense. A place like this that was supposed to have important information, or even be a place of transfer for galra's  forces, a place that was that guarded on the outside, there had to be at least a few guards going around here.

 So where were they?

 He frowned, turning his comms on, “Hey, is this place as deserted on your side as it is here?” he asked Krolia.

 “I've come across a few sentries, but yes,” she paused, “this isn't usual, be on guard.” 

 Keith nodded, “Got it.” 

 He followed through the strangely empty place.

* * *

 

“Allura, watch your left,” Lance warned as a ship shot far too close to the blue lion. It moved at Lance's words dodging at the last second. The laser shot went to blow up a small ship behind it.

 “Thanks, Lance,” she called.

 “Jesusn how many of these things are there? ” Lance piloted red through a line of ships, firing them all up. _Yeah, baby._ He felt red's excitement rise to his own. Or perhaps it was the other way. He could never tell with her.

 “Is that a rhetorical question, or do you want an actual answer?” Pidge asked.

 “Oh god no, I can see the scans,” Lance took a quick look at the scan to the right side of red's screen. It lit like a Christmas tree, unfortunately a Christmas tree that was trying to kill them. The red dots were too many. They already knew that before coming here. But it was one thing to _know_ it and another to see it with your own eyes, to have to fight them. 

 “Pidge, be careful,” Allura called just Lance was about to, noticing the drone ship that was sneaking to the side of the green lion.

 He shot a laser through it before turning red to look at green lion. This was her third close call already she seemed out of it and that was very unlike Pidge. “Get your head in the game.” 

 “Too many jokes. Must resist.” 

  _“Pidge,”_ he scolded, even though he was smiling. The fact that Pidge was the only one other than him with a level of knowledge on old movies and games that could rival his own was one of the reason he loved that little gremlin so much. But now really was not the time for references.

 “Sorry,” Pidge answered, “It's just neither of them hasn't contacted anything yet.” 

 “Pidge, Hunk and Shiro just drop them off, how do you expect them to get there that fast?” 

 “I don't. I just ...” 

 “We need to get out of here,” Allura finished for her.

 Lance silently agreed. They really did need to leave as soon as they could. After all it wasn't everyday that lions of Voltron got their asses handed to them like this. From the amount of ships around them even if they formed Voltron, they still had a rough fight ahead of them. Good thing they weren't planning on staying around, just till Keith and Krolia found the information.

 Lance took a look at the lions' locations. Hunk and Shiro should've been back by now.

 “Shiro we could use your help right about now. Where are you?” Lance asked. Red did a back flip to avoid the ion canon firing.

 “Right here.” 

 Just as Hunk's voice came the Black and Yellow lion came to sight, their invisibility disabled.

 “There's too many. I don't think we can fight them by just lions,” Allura called from blue. 

 “We need to buy Krolia and Keith as much time as possible. You know what to do.” Shiro's image popped at the screen.

 “ _Form Voltron.”_

 It was actually Hunk who said the words in Shiro's famous leader voice. It was followed by the team's laugh. “Sorry, I'm just excited. It's been a while.” He added, apologetic.

 Lance could relate. _A while_ was an understatement of how long it'd been since the last time they had formed Voltron together. And god Lance missed it. That feeling of unity, that feeling of being part of something bigger, that feeling of harmony between them, that feeling ... that was nothing like this. _This,_ this felt wrong. They had formed Voltron but this wasn't right. It didn't exactly feel like they were disconnected, it felt something was wrong with the connection. _Very_ wrong. 

 The others must've been feeling something alike.  
“What is this?” Allura whispered as Pidge muttered something under her breath, probably cursing.

 “Yeah, like Hunk said it's been a while. We just need to get a hang of it,” Lance reassured, even though his insides were turning at the sheer wrongness of what he was feeling. Yet, they were not at a position to deal with whatever the problem was right now.

 At least two of the major ships were pointing their ion canons towards them. “Come on, guys, we have people who don't seem to get the memo that they're old news to fight with.” 

 At least his words seemed to convince the others as Voltron started moving. 

 “Remember we don't need to beat them, just keep them busy long enough for Keith and Krolia to get the job done,” Shiro reminded as they started fighting.

 Lance resisted the urge to check on the mentioned people over the comms. If it was this bad out here, how awful must it be on the inside? He shook his head. Those were two of the most badass people he's ever met, they can handle this. Really, Keith could probably handle anything thrown at him. Still Lance allowed himself a small glance at the base. _Be safe._

 He turned to focus back on their fight, but then something stopped him. He took a second look. 

  _That's not supposed to be there._

  _“Lance, sword!”_

 Lance jumped in his seat at Shiro's voice.  _Shit._ He returned his attention back to in front of them, putting his bayard in. 

 “How many times do I have to call you, Lance? Do you not understand this is serious?” Shiro berated him once they got rid of the swarm of the galra ships around them and had a moment to breathe.

 Lance bit his lip, “Sorry. Sorry. I just ... check out the 9 o'clock.” 

 Pidge's questioning voice followed. “But there's nothing there? Though, we have incoming from my eleven o'clock and six and four and two, actually literally _every—”_

 “I meant _my_ nine o'clock, Miss genius,” Lance cut in, not able to help the smile at the irony of calling the actual genius on the team _genius_ sarcastically.

 “Uh, what are we supposed to be checking out exactly? Cause all I'm seeing is the base?” Hunk asked.

 Lance zoomed in on the image he was seeing, circling a small area and sending it to the other lions’ screens. “That part's not supposed to be there.” 

 “Focus on the fight,” Shiro ordered.

 “And since when are you oh so familiar with Galra architecture?” Allura asked, tone teasing.

Lance sighed when Voltron started moving. Can't they at least listen to him? “I'm not. I just memorized the blue prints and—” 

 “You _memorized_ the blue prints?” Pidge questioned.

 “Yes, and I know—” 

 “Since when do you do that?” She asked, cutting him off again.

 “ _Doesn't matter_ ,” Lance said. He'd been doing that for a while now. A long while. He just wanted to be on the informed side of things since their plans had a way of usually going south. So every time they planned a mission beforehand, he tried to go through things as many times as possible, trying to remember as much detail as he could about the location, the maps, the possible number of soldiers, really anything he could, trying to be as much help as possible to the team. It was by no means an easy job. He wasn't exactly the, well, _brightest._ Didn't mean he couldn't go over everything as many times as needed to be able to remember them. And don't get him wrong, remembering the galran engineering was the hardest thing he's ever done. Sometimes his brain hurt just by looking at the designs. But they seemed to use the same pattern, so it took him less time now to remember than it used to. “it matters that I did. And that's _not_ supposed to be here.” The small compact room attached to the side of the base was new.

 “Lance, just focus on the fight.” 

 “But I'm sure, Shiro. It's not—” 

 “Just focus on being a hand. Or is that too much too ask?” Shiro snapped.

 Lance recoiled from Shiro's loud voice over the comms, his hold on red's handles tightening. Shiro wasn't taking him seriously. _Again._

 “Actually I think he's right,” Pidge's voice came in a second before an small image the blueprints popped up on the side of the screen. “That's not part of the base.” 

 “Can you find out what it is?” Lance asked.

 “ _Can I .._.? Who do you think you're talking to?” She remarked, all satisfied.

 “She will do no such thing,” Shiro admonished, “We're in the middle of a battle. Whatever that is we can focus on it later. For now all your attention should be out here. Am I clear?” 

 “Yes sir,” Lance couldn't help shaking his head. 

 “Pidge?” the man demanded.

 “Yeah.” 

 Lance's smile was involuntary. He knew that _‘yeah’_ all too well. And while it was annoying to be on the receiving side of it he didn't mind it now. It was her _I'm gonna pretend to listen to you when in fact I'm doing whatever I want_ _‘yeah’._

Lance focused on fighting. No matter how many of the ships they got rid of, more seemed to show up. Whenever they got out of here, they needed to find out where all these had come from. Hopefully the information would help.

 “Pidge, we could use the shield right now,” Shiro said after some time. 

 When she didn't activate it nor answered him, he repeated, “Pidge, shield.” 

  _“Katie!”_

 That finally seemed to take her attention.

 “Oh my god.”

 Perhaps it was Pidge's grim tone that made Hunk ask, “What's wrong?” 

 “It's a ... it's a bomb? The whole place is about to blow up.” 

 Lance's head snapped to the base. The place that held Keith and Krolia in it. Keith was in there right now and the place that was about to turn to ashes. His hand turn the comms on without him able to take his eyes off, “Guys, get out of there.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who's gonna do something stupid next ;)
> 
> Also catch me at the club crying over Shiro's vlog. (I don't care if it's actually his clone, he's still the most adorable six year old I've ever seen.)


	46. Chapter 46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“Amazing how fire exposes our priorities.”_
> 
> \- Kudos to everyone who knows  
>  where this is from ;)
> 
>  

 “What?” 

 “Why?”

 “They can't just leave.”

 “Wait a second.”

 In the moment of chaos Lance chose to focus on Pidge's words, “What do you mean ‘Wait a second’? You just said the place is about to blow up.”

 “Blow up ...? Well, that explains how empty this place is.”

 Lance resisted the urge to bang his head to red's dash at Keith's whisper. _Really?_ Lance just told him he was in danger of exploding and that's his first thought. Did he have no sense of self-preservation what so ever?! Unfortunately Lance knew the answer was a big fat _No_.

 “There's a timer,” Pidge answered him, “Sorry, I probably should've mentioned that first—” _ya think?_  She just gave him a mini heart attack, but no biggie, right? Lance allowed himself a moment to breathe, “—but I don't understand. This doesn't make any sense. Did they somehow knew we were coming? How did they—”

 “Pidge, the timer,” Lance cut in, “How long do they have?”

 “Oh, three and a half doboshes.”

  _“English.”_ The altean time unites were a little different to English ones, but in times like this even the slightest bits mattered.

 “Give me a second,” Pidge said. “Okay, 4 minutes and seven seconds, going down,” a small count down appeared on the side of the screen. That wasn't long but at least they had a clock on things now. And it should be enough, right?

 “That's not very much,” Hunk's worry was visible in every string of his voice.

 “Do you have enough time to finish your missions?” Allura asked. There was a small push in her tone which was understandable. Yes, this was dangerous, it was more dangerous on Keith and Krolia, but even if Lance hated thay, they all knew that before coming here. Their missions were always dangerous, that wasn't anything new. If the two could manage to finish their part and be far _far_ from the base in due time, the risk would be worth taking.

 Krolia answered first, “I'll get to the server room soon, so that's a positive.”

 “Okay, be careful,” Lance took it upon himself to reply since Shiro was being weirdly quiet about this. “Keith, you?”

 “Uh, Yeah, I can make it too.”

**04:00**

 Lance didn't have time to debate whether that was hesitation buried in his tone or not before Shiro spoke. “Good, stay on course. Rest of you, we have our own fight to focus on. Hunk, I need those shoulder cannons.”

 “Good luck,” Lance told the part of the team not sitting safe and sound in a lion as Hunk obliged the order. He watched in amazement as the cannon shot a dozen ships around them. Man, Lance loved the lion upgrades, not that he had ever gotten one. Well, there was the sword, but that wasn't exactly _his_ upgrade.

 “I don't really believe in luck,” Keith replied.

 “Seriously, Keith? Now, _now_ you wanna discuss philosophy?” Lance questioned. A chuckle followed.

 “It's not philosophy,” Pidge's voice came through the comms, “and luck is not something you can or can't believe in. It's just real. In case you missed it, there's a whole branch of mathematics dedicated to it. Now, good luck and bad luck, _that_ is just bull shit. I mean technically you _can_ calculate the chance of an out come, but we have way too many unknown variables in here. But a lot of psychological studies have proven that wishing someone good luck—”

 “Oh my god,” Lance cut her off, “see what you did, mullet? Now, she wants to _explain_ it to us.” Keith's laugh rolled into one with the others. Lance smiled as he felt some small part of the tension leaving. 

 “Enough,” Shiro called out, “this isn't a game. We're under heavy fire, and you're busy laughing.”

 As if the universe wanted to prove the man's point, that's the moment Voltron got hit in the shoulder. A collective groan escaped them.

 “Quiznack.” The momentarily pain was enough that no one cared about the fact that Allura just cursed.

 Using the shield to block the laser, they aimed for the ship. The laser shot leaving red's mouth and hitting the ion cannon. Shiro called for the sword immediately after, slicing through the ship before it had any chance to even try and fix the broken cannon.

 “You guys okay?” Keith asked.

 “Yes,” Shiro responded, his image popping on the corner of the screen, “everyone just needs to get their heads straight.”

 Lance considered making a joke about the straight part, but even if Shiro's frown wasn't deep enough, the man _did_ have a point. “Right, focus,” he repeated aloud for himself and the others. And he tried. He really did try to keep all his attention on the fight in front of hum. But having to stay quiet while worrying about the countdown wasn't the best combination for him. Talking was his way go to when calming himself and the others in situations like this. As if he wasn't nervous enough for what was going on inside the base, something which he couldn't put his finger on felt _off_ with the way Voltron was getting attacked. A sigh escaped him involuntary when Krolia spoke up.

**03:40**

 “Alright Pidge, I've connected the flash in to the system.”

 “Oh, good. Just give me a second.”

 Voltron took a defensive position after Pidge's voice came, the right side forward, using the sword to keep the green lion safe while Pidge did ... _whatever_ it was that she was doing. Lance really didn't know anything further than it was coding or decoding or whatever.

 “Okay, we're in ladies and gentlemen,” Pidge announced in a cheery voice. “at least on this side. Keith, how are things going on your side?”

 “Uh, I'm on the way there.”

 “Is there anything you need me to do while this finishes?” Krolia asked.

 It took Pidge a second to answer which was understandable. Lance had no idea how hard it was to hack into a galra base while piloting part of Voltron, but he would go with difficult. She truly was one of the most amazing people he knew. “No, you're good to leave.”

 “Leave? She can't just ... leave. She needs to stay there make sure all the data gets transferred,” Shiro's protesting voice came.

 “Not really,” Pidge responded, “as long as the flash stays connected to the computer that's enough. She just needs to make sure the door won't open after she leaves in the time left. Can you do that?”

 Shiro's whisper of _but_ was not heard under Krolia's chuckle, “ _Can I ...?_! Oh, sweetie, I think I'll manage.” A few moments after the words escaped the woman an exploding sound followed. “All good, nothing will be able to go through this door now,” She reported.

 Okay then, that explained Keith's absolute love for blowing stuff up.

**03:20**

 Reverting his attention back to the fight he was involved in, Lance finally figured out what was it that bugged him out about the way they were getting attacked. The only upper hand the other side had in this fight was their numbers, but there wasn't anything special about their forces, just the same old ships they had been fighting with since the first day. Now, unless they were planning on bringing something to up their game this was just useless casualties on their side. Sure, if all of them would attack at once that would count as a real danger to Voltron, but they didn't seem like they were planning to do that. They just kept coming at the same pace at them enough for Voltron to not be able to do anything other than defend themselves. Which didn't make any sense. They must be seeing the graveyard of ships Voltron was leaving behind, so why would they just rush to their death like that? As if they were just cannon fodder.

 Lance sat up straight as he realised that's exactly what they were. They were just wasting time, keeping them busy. But _why_ though? It's not like the explosion would actually _effect_ Voltron. Naxzela was a different story, it wasn't everyday that an explosion could harm Voltron. If this put them in any actual threat Pidge would've told them. Besides even if it could hurt them, they were way too far from the base right now ... _oh._  They weren't threatened by it. The only people who were in imminent danger were—Lance looked up at the ocean of galra forces between them and the base. _Oh shit._

 “Guys, I think they know you're there,” he spoke up to the comms.

 “No,there's no way. We were caref—” Keith cut himself off, “Nevermind. They know we're here.”

 “What happened?” 

 Krolia was the one to answer Hunk, “Sentries, lots of them.”

 “Can you handle them?” Lance asked.

“Yes.”  
“Yes.”

 Their simultaneous answers came. Right, dumb question to ask either of them. And it wasn't exactly like Voltron could rush to their help even if they needed it, they were still under fire. The galra ships  were not exactly going easy on them. Lance tried to focus his attention there. But some part of him just refused to listen.

  **03:00**

 “Keith, how are you doing?”

 “I'm doing fine, peachy, thanks. How are you doing?”

 Lance would've been amused if Keith hadn't panted that, telling that he was struggling in his fight. “Why does he always choose the worst times to get funny?” Lance muttered under his breath.

 “I can hear you.”

  _“So?”_ Lance asked, “where's the lie?”

 “You—” 

 “Guys, is now _really_ the time for you to prove that you can bicker like old married couples at _any_ given situation?” Pidge asked as Voltron swung its sword in a circle around it, discarding an entire line of ships.

 “Tell that to him,” Keith replied.

 “Why me? You're the one who always decide to be ridiculous at the worst time possible.”

 “Sorry, not all of us can be ridiculous _all_ the time, Lance.”

 Oh, his voice was teasing enough for Lance to know he was doing that little self-satisfied eyebrow raise thing he did. And Lance would not stand for it to go without a response.

 “Oh yeah? I'd like to—”

 “I'm sorry,” Pidge interrupted, “but the only ridiculous thing here is how neither of you seem to mind that I just called you an old married couple.” 

 “Oh, shut up, Pidge!”

 “Shut it, Pidge!”

 They replied at the same time, making the team laugh.

 “Well, now you're just proving her point for her.”

 Lance didn't get a chance to tell Allura to shut it too before Shiro's voice came.

  _“Quiet.”_

 Yet even the man's tone and his scowl that Lance could imagine vividly wasn't enough to keep him quiet. The thing was there was still more than enough time left for the two of them to leave, but Lance just had a bad feeling. Something that told him things were gonna go wrong. Maybe it was just because it was Keith down there.

 “Keith, how much longer till you're there?”

 “Not much.”

 Lance took a nervous look at the countdown. “And how long exactly is ‘not much’?”

 “ _Not much.”_

  _Okay, not much, that's good._ Except that Lance had no idea how long he meant by that, and knowing Keith he had no idea whether he was telling the truth about that. He couldn't help the worry. Really, the way he was nervously biting his lip instead while trying to avoid glancing at the decreasing numbers—not that it would even have any effect, he was counting down the numbers in his head—was considered as a downright criminal act towards the amount of effort and beauty products he'd put in making his lips that soft in the first place. A crime that he could not care less about right now.

 “Are you sure?”

 “Yes.” Keith replied. His voice turning a degree more gentle as he went on, “I know what I'm doing, Lance.”

 “I know you do. But just in case if you can't—”

 “I can,” Keith cut in.

**02:40**

 Lance frowned, he _knew_ that tone. He was not a fan of that tone. It was usually followed by Keith doing something very dumb. “Keith, if you can't make it—”

 “I said I _can.”_  

 “Keith, come on, if you can't just leave.” 

 Keith didn't answer him.

 “Don't be stubborn. Whatever we could find there is not that important.”

 “Keith, don't ignore me,” Lance raised his voice a level or two.

 The answer came, not from Keith but Shiro, “he's not _ignoring_ you. I've cut you off the comms.”

 “What?”

 “You were distracting Keith so I asked black to block any outgoing calls from your lion.” 

 Lance looked down to the panel to see the red error on the corner of the screen. “Seriously, Shiro? Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?”

 “Don't question my judgement,” Shiro retorted, “You weren't just distracting him, but also the team. Learning where to pay your attention will do _you_ some good too. I believe there is a reason red is taking more fire than anyone else. Try not to break a ten thousand year lion.” He took a pause to mutter, “even though I'm sure you're capable of it.” It was _not_ a quiet mutter.

**02:25**

  _That's not fair._

 Just because Lance had been worried didn't mean he wasn't paying attention to the fight or red's condition. Still, guilt filled him up, because yes he had noticed she was taking more beating than the others. The ships were trying to get rid of the sword.  
Red sent him a reassuring wave; she could take it, this was nothing. Even with everything going on, Lance took a moment to send her a wave of pride. _That's my girl._ He owed her some serious polishing and fixing after this.

 With another involuntary glance to the numbers that were decreasing far too fast for his comfort, Lance did what he was told. A few galra drone ships were gathering to Voltron’s side. They were small enough to look like flies next to Voltron’s magnificent size. The sword slashing through them in a zigzag motion. Well, that's one way to kill flies.

 “I've found a drone ship. I'll be exiting the base,” Krolia said.

 “You go ahead. I'll find my own ride when I'm done,” Keith replied.

 “Copy,” she hesitated, “Are you sure?”

 “Yes.”

 The background conversation only made Lance more anxious. Keith sounded like he was still fighting. How much time did he have to get out of there after getting into the communication room? He needed to place enough distance between himself and the base or an explosion that size would hurt him even inside a galra drone. Lance continued bouncing his knee up and down. He had a _really_ bad feeling.

 “Shiro—”

 “Quiet.”

 Oh, come on, couldn't he at least let him talk?

**02:10**

 Lance continued biting his lip, wincing when he felt the skin cut open under his teeth. It was a bad habit he'd put away a long time ago, but he couldn't help it right now. The quietness made him more anxious.  
It wasn't exactly helping that his worry was rolling into one with red's, somehow making it even a thousandth times stronger. So he did the only thing he could to let it out, slashing the sword through the ships around them. He jumped when a quiet cry filled the comms.

 “What was that?” he asked, afterwards realizing only Shiro could hear him.

 “Keith, are you okay?” Hunk, bless his soul, asked.

 “Yeah, yeah, just got ... surprised.” Keith answered quickly.  _Too_ quickly. Was he injured?

 “Shiro, maybe we should—” Hunk began only to be cut off by Shiro.

 “Focus on your own fight. Keith can handle this, can you not?”

 “Yeah, I can.”

 Lance's fingers tightened around red's handles. What kind of question was that?! Of course Keith wasn't gonna say he _couldn't_ handle it. Shiro knew that.

 Keith's quiet shaky breaths over the comms was all Lance could hear, even with the chaos of laser shots and sword breaking through the metal surface. He sounded out of breath. He still hadn't gotten to the room yet, had he? Was he still fighting?

**01:55**

 Eventually, Lance couldn't keep it in anymore, “Shiro, tell him to get out of there.”

 “Focus on your fight.” 

 “Come on,” Lance repeated, “you know he won't on his own.”

 The man did not give an answer.

 “He doesn't have enough time.” Still no answer.

 “He'll get himself killed, _”_ he'd come close to doing that more than enough times. 

 “Shiro!” he yelled at the man for the lack of response.

 A few moments of silence followed before a muffled voice came, “Lance? ... Lance, you need to ... _get–ugh,”_ a hissed cry followed.

 “Shiro?” Lance called, “What's going on?” Was black hit?

 He was faced with more moments of silence before the man answered him, his tone nothing like before, “Nothing, I told you to _focus.”_

 Yes, _focus._ He was starting to sound like a god damn recorded tape. “But Keith?” 

 “Keith knows what he's doing. You know we need him to do this or we won't have access to the data.”

 “We can figure something else later. He's gonna get himself killed.”

 “Just focu—”

 “Oh my god, how can you say that when Keith's on the line? What the hell is going on with you, Shiro?” Lance snapped, immediately regretting it. Well, maybe not immediately. 

 Shiro's icy tone was quick to follow, “Know your place, paladin.”

**01:40**

_... Paladin?_  He wasn't the biggest fan of how soldier like Shiro seemed to treat him recently. Well, Lance had never been good at following orders, had he?

 Someone needed to tell Keith to leave, and if Shiro wasn't going to then Lance would himself. _Red, can you override black's block?_ The only thing he understood from her purr was that she didn't have to. The red error turned into green indicating an open connection. “Keith, get out of there.”

 He ignored Shiro's “How did you ...?”. Not like Lance even knew how red had managed that. He knew the lions had a sense of rank, specially while connected to each other in Voltron. As the head, black had more authority than the rest of them. So she really shouldn't be able to do something that. But she had, and Lance wasn't gonna complain.

**01:30**

 “I've got this,” the other boy answered.

 Lance groaned. They didn't have time for this. “Just get out of there.”

 “Enough, Lance,” Shiro called out, “Perhaps you should trust Keith's abilities more. If he says he got this, then he does.”

 That was _so_ not fair. That's not what Lance said. He trusted Keith and his fighting skills more than anything. But he also trusted him to be a self sacrificing idiot in times.

 “He's just worried,” Keith meddled in. Funny, Lance had never heard him talk to Shiro with that kind of defensive tone, never thought he would.  _Damn right, I'm worried, you moron, so why won't you leave?_  “it's fine, I've got this.” Keith reassured.

 Unfortunately it had no reassuring effects on Lance not when he could see the clock, hear the none existent ticks of it. “No, I really doubt you do. Pidge, can you pull up his location?”

 “She will not do—”

 Shiro didn't even get to finish his sentence before a small map showed up on the screen followed by her not even a little sounding sorry _‘sorry’._

**01:20**

 Lance looked at the red dot on the map, Keith still had some more to go to reach the server room but the rot didn't seem to be moving much. So Lance had been right. He was still fighting.

 “Keith, there's no way you can make it to there. Just leave.”

 “No, I can do this.”

 “Why are you being such a stubborn idiot about this?” Lance's frustration laced every word. His heart was beating fast enough to jump out of his chest in its run of worry.

 Shiro answered him instead, “He's not, he just knows the importance of this mission. He knows we need this information” The ‘ _unlike you_ ’ was clear.

 Shiro was _not_ helping. Keith was not one to easily give up. He would never back down from his role, certainly not if he thought it was against Shiro's wishes. And Shiro and his encouraging were _not_ helping. If Lance was gonna get to him he needed to ...

 Lance felt bad for even thinking it. Going against Shiro, against the man he's looked up to for most of his life, against his _friend,_  it was wrong. It felt wrong. It was against Lance's very being. But it was _Keith_ on the line, and he couldn't worry about anything else. Not when his mind was screaming Keith's name at a rate of a thousand times per second, not when it was screaming at him to keep him safe. There really wasn't a choice here. Not when it was about Keith.

 Besides, Shiro did the same to him first.

  _Red, do you think you could ...?_ He thought red would be more shocked by the suggestion but she wasn't. Still it was even more of a shock when she managed it.

 “Keith, you don't have enough time left for to complete mission, leave.” 

 “Enough already, Lance. Stop distracting hi... why isn't this working?”

 Lance ignored Shiro, letting him figure out that now any outwards communication from the black lion to anyone but Lance was jammed. 

 It was Allura who spoke, “Keith, maybe you should listen to hi—” 

“No.” Keith cut her off.

Lance shook his head, “For the last time _get out of there._ ” 

 “No. I told you I've got this.”

**1:10**

Lance closed his eyes for a second, thinking. Keith wasn't going to make it out on his own, even if he could get to the room, wait till Pidge secured the connection, even if he could somehow manage tofind a drone to get out, there was no way he had enough time to place the necessary distance between himself and the place. He was going to get hurt or ... or _worse._ There was no way Lance was letting that happen. It was Keith. _His_ Keith. Looking at the swarm of galra ships between Voltron and the base he made his choice.

 “Fine, if you won't leave then we're coming to get you.”

 He ignored both _‘No.’_  Unfortunately, there really was no way Voltron could make it there with all the galra ships in the way, besides he really wasn't sure Shiro would let him. But then again that's not what Lance had meant by _we._ Because yes, Voltron would be too slow to make it there, but a certain lion would be fast enough.

 His thoughts and hers matched in a second taking effect before he had a chance to rethink it. The pain shot through them. The pained cries exited the team. God, Lance hoped they weren't feeling as he was feeling. Voltron’s, _Red's_ pain was shooting through him, feeling like he himself was losing a limb, or well, in this case he _was_ the limb, or the arm.

“What the hell are you doing?” Shiro's voice followed once voltron was left in pieces.

 It took him a second to get a hold of himself. The lions scattered from each other. They would be fine, Lance reassured himself. “I'm sorry,” he called to everyone, red already flying away from the other lions.

 “Where do you think you're going? Get back here.”

 “I'm sorry, Shiro. I can't do that.”

 “Get back here, Lance. That's an _order.”_

 Lance just closed his eyes, urging red to go faster.

 “Lance, don't you dare—”

 Well, if he was going rogue, he might as well go all the way. He tapped on the panel, closing the last outward communication route from the black lion. 

He tried to call to Keith but he seemed to have turned off his comm, or perhaps he was too involved in fighting to hear him.

**01:00**

 “My ship is not working very well, I don't think I'll be able to make it to Keith in time,” Krolia's horrified voice over the comms.

 “It's fine you don't have to, just place as much distance between yourself and the base as possible.” Lance told her. He was sure the drones didn't offer enough protection from an explosion that size, “Guys, can one of you go get her?”

  **00:50**

 “I'm on it,” Pidge called.

 Oh, good, they were still talking to him. He wasn't sure that meant they would forgive him for doing something like that but at least she was still talking to him.

 Lance took another look at Keith's location, making Red bust her mouth inside the base's surface a little farther from him so he wouldn't get hurt by accident. He took his bayard, running out of her and towards the red dot. He turned a hallway, finding Keith crouched on the floor behind a pillar, the gun in his hand. At least a dozen sentries shooting on the other side.

 Lance felt his bayard materialize, shooting a couple before Keith turned around. He'd turned around with the gun aiming but that's not what momentarily paralyzed Lance. No, it was the look in his eyes. Keith had his mask off and that look, Lance recognised _that_ look. He'd seen it on his teammates more on more than a few occasions, he'd lived through that look. It was a look of sheer terror, of fear for one's life. It was the most bare instinct of wanting to survive and being afraid that you won't be. At moment, at place Lance decided he hated seeing it on Keith.

**00:40**

 It was quick to vanish as Keith lowered the gun, “Lance?” he questioned, “What are you ... doing here?”

 Lance raised his eyebrows, using his shield to make it to where Keith was, taking a seat next to him. “Getting you, like I said.”

 Keith only blinked at him, “Lance, you, I can't believe you, I ... you ...”

 “Yeah, yeah, you can suck at reciting alphabet later, come on let's go—”

 “No, I still haven't connected this,” Keith held up the flash in one hand.

**00:30**

 Lance took a moment to shot one of the sentries to stop them from advancing, “We don't have time.”

 According to the map the server room was all the way behind the group of sentries. The shape of the hallway give the two of them an advantage to shield themselves from the shots getting fired, but it also gave the same advantage to the sentries standing on the other side, which made it impossible for the two of them to be able to kill them and get to the room ... well, impossible in their limited time.

 “But I need to do thi—”

 Lance cut him off by wrapping his hand around Keith's hand, the one that was holding the flash up, “Keith, we don't have time,” he emphasized squeezing Keith's hand, “Unless we leave right now we'll both end up getting killed.” He looked right into those dark violet eyes, they moved passed him looking behind the sentries before looking at the small timer on Lance's hand, before they settled back on him, the look in them changing.

“Okay,” he nodded, “let's go.”  

**00:25**

 Instead of letting his hand go, Lance just wrapped their fingers together, taking a few shots before running out of their cover, Keith after him. Yet, he'd only taken a few steps before he lost his grip on Keith. He wasn't sure what had happened, but one second Keith was following after him and the next he was standing on his knees on the floor. Had he tripped or somethinh? Lance only had a fraction of a second to get back next to him. Wrapping his hand around the other boy, he activated the shield to keep them both from the laser shots, “Now's not the time to take a break, mullet.”

 “Right, right, sorry,” Keith said, trying to get up. A muffled hiss escaped him.

**00:20**

 Lance's eyes immediately searched over Keith for the source of the pained cry. It was only then that he noticed the growing dark spot on Keith's side, the small torn part in his suit. “You were shot.”

  _Of course_. Why else Keith would be using the gun instead of fight the sentries with his blade? “When did you ...” Lance paused to give Keith a look, “‘ _just got surprised?’_ Really keith? Why didn't you just tell us?”

 “It's fine, let's go,” the other boy answered, trying to get up only to stumble back down.

 “Whoa, I've got you,” Lance kept him from falling again. It didn't seem like Keith would be able to walk without help. They had to do this together. Lance shot at a few sentries to give them a moment to deal with this.

**00:15**

 “I've got you,” He whispered, looping Keith's arm around his shoulder holding on to it with his hand. Shield still activated on his other hand, he lowered it to support Keith's side. “Okay, good?” Lance asked. Keith only nodded as they began moving together.  
“Alright, we've got this. Looks like you'll have to be our sharpshooter this time,” he gave Keith the best smile he could.

**00:10**

 Without a word Keith raised the gun with his free arm, shooting back. With that and the shield's protection, they made their way back. Keith was barely able to keep his footing with his injured state, Lance was trying his best not to trip while carrying their weights, they didn't have time for him to afford something like that.

**00:05**

 Red's mouth closed as soon as they stepped inside. Get us back to the castle.

  **00:00**

 He was helping Keith take a sit when the blast rocked red. The impact of the explosion outside enough to make Lance loose his hold on Keith, sending them both violently towards the floor.  
He tried to get up only to get thrown down again as red shook. The world momentarily turned black as his head hit the metallic part under red's dash on his way down.

 He stayed there till all the explosions finished, making sure Keith wouldn't move neither. Once the world stopped shaking, Lance sat up, a hand on his forehead, _“Ow,_ son of a ...” he cut himself when his eyes got a glimpse of Keith.

 “Shit. Keith?” Keith had his back to Lance, body pressed to the wall. Lance's breath caught when he didn't answer. He crawled his way to the other boy, turning him around, “you okay?”

 Keith opened his eyes, spending a few moments to just blink at him before raising his hand to point to his ears.

  _Oh,_ if Lance's ears were ringing like that then he had no idea how bad the loud explosions must've affected Keith's oversensitive ones. Instead of asking again, Lance took it upon himself to look over him, checking for signs of any injuries, well any additional injuries caused by their rattling trip. Keith must've realised what he was doing.

 “Hey, I'm fine. I'm fine,” he reassured.

  _Fine_ , _right_ ... _my ass_. Lance resisted the urge to glare at him, just shaking his head.

 He took a look around him, their surroundings were a mess. _Red?_ He called. If her insides had gotten this affected, how bad was she on the outside? Her light's had gone out during the explosions, but they seemed to be turning back on again. _You all right?_

 The answered rumble he got from her told him that he wasn't in the bestest conditions.

  _Can you move?_

 A small shake followed and then she was moving. She could make it to the castle. Okay, he'll fix her up later. Besides, he could feel that like him right now all her worry was Keith.

 He helped Keith get in a more vertical position, resting his back to the inside wall of red's body. They kept a small first aid kit in the lions. Lance grabbed it quickly, sitting back on the floor next to the other boy. There wasn't much in it, but it would suffice from there to the castle.

 Lance picked some one of the gauze placing it on Keith's wound to absorb the blood as he used the scissors to cut open the fabric of the suit around the wound.

 “Sorry your favourite outfit in my wardrobe got ruined.”

 Lance felt his eyebrows knit together, “You're not funny, Keith,” He picked up another gauze. The first one had already gone red.

 Keith made a laugh, “I don't know, I'd say I'm a little bit fu—” he hissed in pain as Lance tried to wipe the clotted blood on the wound. He needed to get an actual look on it. Keith's back arched in response to the pain, so Lance place a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. Keith just rested his head back to the wall, closing his eyes.

 “Sorry,” Lance whispered as he finished cleaning the small area. He couldn't tell for certain but the shot seemed to have placed between two of his false ribs. The sentries laser shots left a small crystal like part if going through the body. There was no exit wound so it must be still in Keith's body. But taking it out was no job for the sucky plastic tweezers inside the kit nor for Lance at the moment. He left it for Coran to deal with at the castle. Keith wasn't in a semi-good condition. Still, if the shot had hit an inch higher, it would've ruptured Keith's lung. Lance shivered at the thought.

 “It's fine, it doesn't go deep.” _Keith_ reassured _him._

 Lance didn't say anything, he just placed the gauze, putting more pressure. At least the good thing about laser shots was that they didn't cause much bleeding. Well, _too_ much.

 “You're shaking.”

 Lance didn't respond, just continuing his work on the injury. At least he did until Keith's hands wrapped around his wrists, stabilizing the tremble in them.

 “Your hands are shaking.” Worried eyes looked at him.

  _How dare he?_

 Keith had no right to be worried for him after putting him through _that._

 “Of course they are,” Lance whispered under his breath.

 “Lance, I'm fine.”

Lance scoffed. He was so not fine and what if Lance hadn't come? Was he planning on just staying there?

 The worry, the absolute  _fear_  finally took over Lance, escaping him in a shaky breath. His head fell to Keith's shoulder. “What were you thinking, Keith? That was so stupid.”

 The answer came late, “I ...” Keith never finished that, only tilting his cheek to the side of Lance's head.

 They sat like that the rest of the way, Lance's hands putting pressure on Keith's wound, his forehead on Keith's shoulder, Keith's face rested to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  I'm just gonna pretend like I'm not hella late for the update. Cause I have no excuse for it, just know I'm sorry :)
> 
>   I can't believe season 7 comes out in less than 4 weeks. I'm _so_ ready for it. Quit complaining that it's too soon, you people. Don't you wanna see our team? And we'll get to see their families back on earth, and their roadtrip back to earth. And it's been like three seasons since Keith has been with the team. So as soon as Lance and him stand unnecessarily close to each other (like they did in the first three seasons) I'm gonna start wheezing. See, I'm not that complicated, dreamworks. I'm not even asking for them to get canon, just give me the two of them in the same frame and I'll be happy. 
> 
>  Sorry, I just have a lot of feelings to rant out about.
> 
>  Anyway, I told you someone was gonna do something dumb, I just never said it was gonna be both of them. ;)


	47. Chapter 47

 Red got them back to the castle as quick as she could, a shake going through her as she landed inside the hanger. Lance wrapped his arm around Keith again helping him get up, hand still pressing the gauze to the injury.

 Coran's voice came through as soon as red's mouth opened up., “Lance, are you all right?” 

 “Coran? Coran, Hey, I need your help,” Lance called to him, moving forward with Keith leaning to him.

 “Oh, thank gods you're okay. We were worried yo—” Coran paused eyes falling on Keith, “oh _my.”_

 “I'm fine.” 

 Coran didn't seem to pay any mind to the false statement, already walking to loop Keith's other arm around his shoulder, supporting him as they continued the way out of red, “Let's get you to a pod.” 

 “We've been trying to call to you since you, uh ... _left,”_ the older man hesitated, Keith looking at him questioningly. “why weren't you answering your comms?” 

 “Red's communication must've been damaged in the blow.” Lance turned back to take a look at her only to be stilled by the sight. She was ... _oh, god, I'm so sorry, red._

 She was lying on her side on the hanger's floor. Her usual shiny metallic body was covered in black dust and scratches. If there ever had been a time where one of the lions had looked more in pain he couldn't recall it. Her enormous figure looked like a small kitten Lance wished he could scoop up and give a big hug.

 Yet, even then Lance felt her reassuring purr to him, or well, to _them._ He could feel Keith's worry about her through their bond with her. 

 “Don't worry number three and four, we'll get her up and running in no time. She's a strong one. Trust me, I've seen her go through much worse. Oh Alfor,” Coran shook his head, huffing a laugh.

 Normally this would be the time Lance asked the Altean man to share the story but not right now, not when he had more important things to worry about.

 “Is-is everyone okay?” 

 Lance made sure his eyes stayed forward as Keith's head turned to him, he could feel the violet eyes roaming over his features.

 “Why wouldn't they be okay? And why did you say _left_ like that?” the boy looked to Coran before returning his face to Lance, “what exactly did you do?”

 Instead of answering Lance kept on the way, they could tell him what had happened later.

 But Keith didn't seem to want to be on with that plan.  
He took a halt, setting his feet on the floor to prevent them from going any further, _“What_ did you do, Lance?” 

 “I disassembled Voltron.” 

 “Okay, and?” 

 Lance looked up, “No, _I_ disassembled Voltron. I pulled red out by force.” 

 When they were connected through Voltron, it wasn't just the the lions that were physically and mentally connected to each other, the paladins' minds were linked to each other too. As the head, it was usually the black paladin that gave the order to seperate, even if it was someone else who did they all had to agree on it mentally, retracting from the connection before they would break apart. Breaking that connection out of no where was dangerous, Allura had told them that on their first day there.

 The only time that had happened before had been in their fight with Zarkon, when he had broke them apart. It had been an excruciating experience. Lance had never thought he would bring that kind of pain to his team willingly.

 Keith's eyes rounded, “What? Why would you—” 

 “I don't know, Keith. Why do you think?” 

 Keith was the one who broke their eye contact, “I never asked you to do that.” 

 Lance started moving again with the other two next to him, “And I told you before, I don't need you to ask.” If anyone needed him he would be there for them. If anyone needed his help, he would rush to them, even if that anyone was too stubborn to admit it.

 “But you didn't have to break apart Voltron. Why didn't you guys just disassemble normally?” asked Keith.

 Lance sighed. He still didn't get it. “It wasn't exactly a ... team decision. I wasn't sure if,” Lance caught himself. How could he tell the boy next to him that he hadn't been sure Shiro, the person who meant the most to Keith, would agree to it? “I could make it in time.” 

 He doubted either of the ones next to him bought that. 

 “Don't look at me like that. It's not like you gave me a choice, Keith.” 

 Keith's eyes continued to stay on him for quite some time.

 “There was some difficulties after you left—”

 Difficulties? What kind of difficulties?

 Coran continued before Lance could ask, “—but everyone's okay, they're heading back to the castle.” 

 Lance finally let himself take a sigh of relief, closing his eyes. Everyone was all right, well not _all right_ , the wet gauze under his hand told him other wise, but that was nothing a few hours in a pod couldn't heal. Everyone was _alive,_ and that was enough for him.

 Once at the infirmary, he helped Keith sit down on one of the beds, Coran already working around the room. Lance raised the gauze, picking a look. He shook his head, biting his lip. “Seriously, what where you thinking?” 

 “No, what were _you_ thinking?” 

 They both turned towards the man at the door. 

 “What the hell were you thinking?” Shiro snapped, stepping inside the room, “You're not in charge here, I've told you that. What made you think it was a good idea to go against every order I gave you? Or was it that you just weren't thinking, as usual?” 

 Lance should've expected this, yet between everything that had happened his mind really hadn't had a chance to go there. Still he probably never could've imagined Shiro looking like that. He never had seen him that angry. His face was flushed, nostrils moving with every breath, fisted hands on either side of him.

 He had a right to be angry, but what he'd said wasn't true. Lance hadn't done this without thinking. He knew he was putting the team in a vulnerable situation, breaking them apart like that. But he also knew they wouldn't be in imminent danger, they had been able to fight the ships off with only three lions at first so he knew they would be able to hold them off for the short time without him. Yes, he'd known it would be dangerous, they could get injured, but if he hadn't gone to Keith he would be dead for sure. 

 He'd taken a risk. It might not have been the best of choices, but it was the only option he had at the moment. 

 “Shiro,” Keith tried to stand up, his face scrunching up in pain. Lance placed a hand on his shoulder keeping him from moving.

 “What are you doing? Sit down,” Lance whispered to him. Keith paid no attention to it. But at least he stopped trying to get up. However, he did place a hand in front of Lance, pushing him behind.

 “He was just trying to protect me. This isn't on him, if I had finished my mission in time he would've never—” 

 “Did I talk to you?” Shiro interrupted Keith.

 “What?” 

 “Was I talking to you?” 

 Keith stared at him for a few moments, “uh, no?” 

 “Then be quiet.” 

 Lance frowned at the glower Shiro gave Keith. He was mad at Lance? Fine, _good,_ he deserved it after what he'd done. But Keith had done nothing wrong, stupid maybe. Yet Lance couldn't recall any time Shiro had ever talked to him like that. 

 Keith opened his mouth a few times but in the end he didn't say anything.

 “And _you,”_ Shiro pointed a finger at Lance, “You, I don't even know where to start with you. You put everyone's lives in danger, you messed up the mission, you put Voltron in jeopardy—” 

 “Shiro,” Coran intervened, “calm down.” He placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder.

 Shiro with-drew from the touch, he pointed his finger and his frown to the altean instead, _“Don't.”_

 It was painful for Lance to see the look that passed over the older man's face in response. Enough was enough. If Shiro wanted to shout at him there was no reason the others should be involved in his anger too. And perhaps Lance didn't want to be scolded like that in front of others either.

 Besides Shiro's voice was too loud, and Keith's ears were doing that small twitch that usually let Lance know the noises were too loud and it was hurting his hypersensitive ears. He was hurt enough already.

 Shiro turned back to him, but Lance beat him to it, “Can we do this somewhere else?” 

 Shiro narrowed his eyes at him, “Excuse me?” 

 “Keith's hurt, he needs to go to a pod,” Lance pointed to the boy next to him. Shiro's eyes followed the movement, staying on Keith's injury. 

 His expression changed, the tie between his eye brows softening, “Oh, I,” he looked like he was going to walk over to Keith, but he didn't. His frown returning rather quickly. 

 “Coran, take care of him,” he ordered. He gave a side glance to Lance, “You, with me,” he gestured for Lance to follow him as he walked out of the room.

 Keith's hand wrapped around Lance's arm before he could take a step. He looked up to those purple eyes.

 Lance smiled, “Hey, I know this is gonna be hard for you, mullet, but try not to do any other stupid things till I come back.” 

 Keith made a small smile before letting go of his arm, but worry continued to flicker in eyes, “Just ...” He didn't finish.

 “Don't worry, I've got eighteen years worth experience of getting scolded, this is nothing—”

  _“Lance.”_

 They both jumped at Shiro's voice from the hall. Lance only gave Keith a reassuring smile and nodded at Coran before leaving the room.

 He followed the man in silence. Incompatible with the moment, it almost brought a smile to his lips. It felt like going to the principal’s office. How many times had he followed Shiro—or officer Shirogone as he was known then, even though nobody, not even the cadets, actually called him that—there in garrison? 

 The difference was back then Lance  _wished_ it would be Shiro instead of other officers. Where the other instructors yelled, or Iverson belittled him, Shiro just sat calmly giving him his famous I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed in you look. He was a dad even back then.

 Lance didn't smile. Shiro had no problem with yelling anymore. 

 Yet he _didn't,_ not when they entered his work room. Not when he stood in front of Lance, not when he crossed his arms over his chest, staring at him.

 “Well?” 

 “Uh, well?!” 

 “Yes, _well,”_ Shiro repeated, “I'm waiting to hear your excuse for what you did.” 

 Why wasn't he yelling? He was enraged that was for sure, the vein that pulsed on his forehead was evidence of it. Lance decided he preferred getting shouted at to _this._

 This reminded him of the ocean not because of the calmness but rather because of a small creature that lived beneath it. Veronica told him about it when he'd been young as a prank to scare him off going to the beach. Didn't mean it wasn't real, seven-year-old him had been terrified after seeing the numerous videos of the way the small cone snail killed its victims. Moving slow and calm until it hit them in one venomous deadly strike. 

 “Don't stay quiet, Lance. It doesn't suit you,” Shiro said, “And don't you dare tell me you had no good reason for ruining our mission, breaking up my team, putting _my_ team in danger, running off, disobeying my direct order, and let's see what else?” he smiled, “you cut off my communication with _my_ team? How did you even do that?” 

 “I don't know, red did that,” Lance answered, “and you did the same to me.” 

 The way the man's jaw tightened told Lance it had been the wrong thing to say. 

 Shiro stepped forward, “ _I_ am the leader of Voltron, your leader. _You,_ are just a paladin. You had no right to do something like that. So give me the reason.” The words escaped him through a gritted smile.

  _Just a paladin?_

 “Keith was in there, I couldn't just do nothing. He was about to die, Shiro and—” 

 “And _what?”_ Shiro demanded, “You thought I was going to let that happen?” 

 “No, I just—” 

 “You just what? I knew what I was doing. Everything was going according to the plan. But you, you just had to ... What, did you think you're the only one who cares about him? I've known him since he was a just a kid. I've looked after him for years longer than you even knew him. You're gonna stand there and suggest _I_ would let him get hurt?” Lance didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before Shiro continued, “He's a brother to me or do you doubt that?” he took a step forward.

 Lance took one back instinctively, shaking his hands in front of him, “No, that's not what I sa—” 

 “It _sounded_ like it,” Shiro took another step towards him, voice raising, “you _disobeyed_ me. You _doubted_ me and my judgement and not for the first time.” 

 “And worse you _doubted_ my love for Keith.” He walked even closer. There was an unfamiliar hostility in his tense form.

 Lance retreated even more want to place as much distance between them, retreating.  
“I-I just,” he stumbled, “it was Keith and I couldn't, I ...” 

 “You couldn't _what?”_ Shiro spat.

 Lance took another step back, his back hitting the wall, “I-I don't know ... I just, uh, didn't think—” 

 “That's right, you didn't think, yet again. We needed that information. He could've found it, but _you_ couldn't _think.”_

 Lance tried not to flinch at the sting of the metallic finger. Shiro was only a few inches taller that him, but somehow he towered over him as he raised his hand, flicking Lance's temple. 

 It made him feel small.

 Like he had felt at forth grade when the older kids had surrounded him, shoving him into a locker laughing.

 Like that one time in garrison, when he hadn't been able to hold his tongue at the wrong crowd. They certainly were going to repay him if Shiro hadn't showed up, threatening them of how that kind of behaviour wouldn't be tolerated there once he'd realised what was going on. He'd taken Lance to his office after, offering him a cookie and asking if he was okay.

 It had always been a warm memory, yet it made something cold go through him this time.

 “I'm sorry, I should've trusted you.” His voice sounded foreign to his ears.

 “Yes, you should have.” The older man said, turning away. He stepped back to his desk, standing there with his back to Lance.

 “It won't happen again,” Lance said, full aware that if he was ever in the same situation again, he would do the same.

 “Oh, it better not,” Shiro tilted his head back, looking at him from the corner of his eyes, “There's only so many times you can fuck up before I’ll start looking for a new paladin.”

 Oh.

 There it was.

 The deadly strike.

 “What?”

 “You heard me,” Firm words escaped the man.

 Lance took a step forward from the wall, “Shiro—” 

 “Not only have you caused our missions to fail on numerous times, you keep jeopardizing this team, I can't allow that any more. At this point you're more trouble than you're worth. You're on your last strike.” 

 But everything Lance had ever done _was_ for this team, to keep the team, his family safe. If things had gone wrong, was that really his fault?

 “Now, get out. I have to figure out how to fix your mess,” Shiro shook his head, “once again.”

 Lance left, _escaped,_ the room without another word.

 However all he could do was just stand out in the hall, trying to wrap his head around what just had happened.

 It's not like he'd never thought about leaving the team, he had more than a few occasions. He had even offered to step out to Keith but every time he'd considered it, it had been for the best of the team.

 And there had been times when he felt less inadequate compared to everyone else on the team. It's just they had set the bar so high, sometimes it felt like he couldn't reach it.

 But getting kicked off the team? 

 The thought had never even occurred to him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you didn't see _that_ coming ;)  
>  (if you did, shush, I like to pretend my writing isn't completely predictable.)
> 
> Also I'm hopping back on the shorter chapter trains, cause it'll let me post more often.


	48. Chapter 48

 Eventually, Lance got a hold of himself. He still had his team to worry about. He wiped his face, making his way back to the infirmary. However, none of the pods were occupied. He looked around Keith was no where to be found, only Coran and he seemed to be ... cleaning up? 

 “Coran—” 

The man turned towards him, “Lance, hey.” 

 “Where is Keith?” 

Coran shook his head, sighing, “He only allowed me to remove the remaining of the shot, then insisted he didn't need a pod and left.”

 “And you just let him? ” Lance asked.

 The man quirked an eyebrow.

 Lance rubbed his eyes with one hand, “Right, right, I'm sorry. Nobody let's him do anything, he just does it.” 

 “Yes, he's very headstrong. Just as much as another person I know.” 

 Headstrong? Yeah, that's _one_ word for it. Lance sighed, already walking out the door.

 “I'll be readying a pod,” Coran called after him.

 “Yeah, you do that.” 

 Lance made his way to Keith's room in long-legged strides. _Idiot,_ what was he thinking not refusing treatment? 

 He knocked on the door, “Keith?” 

 “Lance? Uh ... just a second.” Keith's voiced travelled through the closed doors a few seconds before they opened.

 “Yeah?” he said as Lance stepped inside.

 “Yeah? What do you mean _‘yeah?’_ Why aren't you in a—what are you doing?” Lance asked instead, looking at Keith.

 The other boy sat on the bed, his suit pulled down to the middle laying on the surface of it. That was really not what got Lance's attention, oh _no,_ it definitely was what was in his hand. The small object, black and purple like most things from the blade, looked like a stapler ...  _a suture stapler,_ Lance realised.

 “Patching myself up,” keith raised that _thing_ toward himself.

 Lance's inside turned as he saw half of Keith's injury was already sutured up, _jesus christ._  His legs began walking on their own, “No, no,” he pulled the device out of Keith's hand. “There will be no more ... _patching_ up. You're going into a pod, right now.” 

 “No, it's fine. I'm almost finished.” Keith tried to take the skin stapler back. Lance was standing so he couldn't reach, even if he hadn't had a damn injury that made his expression change in pain at the attempt. Lance placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from doing so. “Don't worry, I've dealt with much worse than this.” Keith said.

 Don't worry? How could he ask him not to worry while saying _that?_ “Much worse?” Lance whispered the words. Any louder than that and it would hurt him.

 “At the blade,” Keith's eyes turned gentle looking at him, “we don't exactly have healing pods there, Lance.” 

 “So-so you just do _this_ every time you get hurt?” Lance looked at the device in his hand, holding it farther from himself. Logically he understood it helped, but it must've _hurt._ He threw it on the other side of the bed, placing more distance between himself and the thing that had caused Keith pain.

 “Well, we do have healers ... sort of but they're only for the worst injuries, so I guess yeah.” 

 Lance's eyes roamed to Keith's bare shoulders and torso, gasping at the sight. 

 They all had scars, it was inevitable. But the Altean medicine was very advanced, unless someone was kept out of the pods for a prolonged amount of time nothing much would be left of their injury. Even in cases that they didn't use the pods, Coran gave them enough creams to put on that none of them had any thing other than barely visible white lines. But _these,_ these were badly healed ugly scars that told stories of pain they had caused in the first place.

 Lance’s hand on Keith's shoulder dropped down to a curved scar on his upper arm, tracing it with his thumb, “I'm sorry.” He whispered. He let his hand fall back to his side when Keith shivered at the touch.

 He had never thought about how the Blades dealt with injuries. 

 That was a lie, he had, but he usually tried to avoid doing that or assure himself that they would have a good way to deal with. You would've thought a thousands years old spying organizations had better ways to deal with injuries, but _no,_ they just had to prove how tough they were, didn't they? This was _barbaric._

 It took him a moment to find words again, “Other than making me want to call Kolivan and give him a piece of my mind over the way he looks after his people, this still gives me no reason on why you're not in a pod.” 

 “Because I don't need to be. I can handle this.” Keith insisted.

 Lance looked at the ceiling, “oh my god, Keith. This is so dumb and you've already done your fair share of dumb for one day.” 

 He sighed when Keith only stared at him stubbornly, “Nobody said you can't handle it, I'm sure you've handled enough of it at the blade,” he bit his lip, eyeing a vertical scar on the side of Keith's torso. He wondered how he'd gotten that, actually best _not_ to wonder on that, “But you're not at the blade anymore. You're here, where we have perfectly usable pods lying around. It's just _dumb_ not use them. You're making yourself suffer unnecessarily.” 

 “Huh,” Keith stared at him for a few seconds. “I guess that is pretty dumb.” 

 “You seriously needed me to say it for you to realise that?” Lance just shook his head, “Just get up.”

 Keith tried to stand but he stumbled to the side, Lance's hand wrapped around him instinctively,

 “Whoa, easy. Easy.” 

 How had Keith managed to get back when he couldn't even stand on his own?

 “Right, Just give me a second to put this on,” Keith said, reaching for the sleeves of the suit hanging from his middle.

 “Leave it, you're gonna have to change into the healing suit anyway.” 

 “I can't just walk around with you while half naked, Lance.” 

 Lance rolled his eyes, looping Keith's arm around his shoulder like earlier, he put his around Keith's waist, supporting him, “Don't flatter yourself, buddy, nothing I haven't seen before.” 

 “I didn't mean ... just you ... everyone else.” Keith looked to the side. 

 Nice try, like Lance couldn't see how red his face was getting when he was that close. Well, at least he was still in a good enough state to blush.

 “Don't worry, mullet, I don't think anyone's gonna have a nose bleed over your shirtless chest when you have an injury.”   
“I didn't mean ... you, _ugh,”_ Keith groaned, “let's just go.”  
Lance huffed a laugh, moving with Keith beside him.  
They passed a few hallways before Keith spoke up.

 “You put the team in risk for me.” 

 Lance did everything in his power not to stumble at the sudden words, “I, yeah, I did,” he sighed, “maybe that'll get you to think twice before risking yourself for the team like that next time.” 

 Keith frowned, “Lance—” 

 “Look, I already feel bad enough. If you wanna guilt trip me, _don't,”_ Lance hoped he didn't notice the shake in his voice.

 “That bad, huh?” Keith paused to look at him, “What did he say?” 

 Lance kept his eyes straight forward, “Nothing I couldn't handle,” or perhaps it was nothing he didn't want to handle or deal with, _ever._

 Keith sighed, “You shouldn't have done that.” 

 It took Lance a moment to answer, he had been planning on doing this after Keith came out of the pod, preferably after he ate something and got some rest, but Keith brought it up.

 “ _I_ shouldn't have done that? Are you serious?” Lance scoffed, “What were _you_ thinking? I told you to leave.” 

 “You're not the boss of me, Lance.” Keith huffed a laugh.

 That wasn't something Lance could joke about. The adrenaline in his body had left him completely after his encounter with Shiro. Now, all the worry was rushing back into him.

 Perhaps he was a little, _a lot,_ pissed too; Keith could've died. He could've actually _died,_ as in gone, non existent, not there anymore. Lance couldn't wrap his around that, or even imagine it. He certainly did not _want_ to.

 “Not the boss of you? You're gonna have to do better than that, Keith. Explain to me how you thought it was a good idea to stay, you can barely walk.” 

 “I could make it to the info room, upload the data to Pidge.”

 “And then what was the plan? Just burst into flames?”

 Lance came to a halt when Keith raised a shoulder in response, “Did you just shrug?” 

 Keith looked forward, “Knowledge or death.” 

 Lance felt his eyebrows tangle together even more. He had never agreed to the organization mantra. He'd tried to discuss it with Kolivan once, but the man had looked insulted when Lance had given him his thoughts on it so he had never brought it up again.

 But he still thought it was a bit _much._ Hadn't that almost gotten Keith killed the first time he'd been there? How many times after that had he come close because of it? Did he really believe in that?

 “I know you're part of the blade and you know I have nothing but respect for them, but _god,_ that is such a load of crap.” Keith turned to look at him with rounded eyes, “What good would that knowledge do to you if you're dead, Keith?” 

 “Not for me, but it would for the team.” 

 “W-what?”

 “No individuals come before the mission.”

 Lance tilted his head to get in Keith's view, but the boy seemed adamant in avoiding his eyes. He sighed, “I know that's the blade's motto but tell me you don't believe that.” 

 “Keith, please tell me you don't actually believe in that.”

 Lance tried to urge Keith to look at him, but the other boy only ducked his head lower, eyes still glued to the side. 

 “No individuals come before the mission? So what, if it was me there would you just let me die for the _mission?_ Or Sh-Shiro? or anyone else?” 

 “Would you, Keith?” he emphasized the question. Not because he thought Keith would, but because he _knew_ he wouldn't.

 “No, you wouldn't. Why do other individuals matter more than you?” He continued.

 “I know you're a blade, but you gotta remember you're a paladin first. You're one of us first, and we don't do things that way. Every life matters. There's no amount of information in the world that could ever equalise to someone's life, _ever,”_ he reached his hand to the side of Keith's face, turning it to look at him with a slight touch, “certainly not to _yours.”_

 Violet eyes shone at him in response. Keith stayed silent, but a crease appeared in between his brows that told Lance he was dwelling on the words. He let him, not saying a word as they began moving.

 Coran greeted them again as they returned to the infirmary, helping Keith change into the healing suit. Lance assisted him into the pod but Keith wrapped a hand around his arm. 

 “Wait,” He said, “are you okay?”

 “Are you seriously asking me that right now?” Lance asked. _He_ was the one injured.

 “Yeah.” 

 Lance untangled Keith's fingers from his arm to avoid the worried eyes, “No, I'm not. Just go into the pod, Keith.” 

 He sighed as the glass door closed, running a hand through his hair. 

 “All right, he'll be as healthy as a baby yupper in a few vargas. Now, let's fix you up.” 

 Lance turned to give Coran a confused look.

 “Your forehead,” the man unravelled.

 “My forehead ...?” 

 Oh, right, he had hit red's dash in the explosions. He raised his hand, touching the sore spot under his hairline, wincing as his fingers grazed the area underneath the dried blood. 

 He settled on one of the beds. Coran cleaned the small wound, applying some medicine and placing a tape on the area. He placed a hand on Lance's shoulder afterwards. 

 “I'm truly glad nothing happened to you, my boy.” 

 Lance put his hand on top of the man's giving it a small pressure, smiling, “Thanks.” 

 Coran smiled back, letting his hand fall back to his side.

 “And I'm sorry about earlier. Shiro ... was just mad at me, he wouldn't have talk to you like that otherwise.” Lance wasn't so sure about that anymore, still he felt like Coran deserved an apology for getting treated like that.

 A line appeared between Coran's eyebrows, “Lance, if you make a call that you believe to be the right one, don't apologise for it. And certainly _never_ apologise for the actions of others.” 

 Lance blinked a few times, before smiling at the man. Sometimes he forget how amazingly wise and at the same time awesome Coran was. He nodded. He still felt like he needed to apologise to the team. Right call or not, he had put them in danger.

 “Well then, I'll be off to the kitchen, I'm sure everyone's hungry after a mission like that and the substance provider has been acting rather strangely recently,” The altean man squinted around the room before leaning closer with a hand next to his mouth, “I suspect it was Plachu.” 

 Lance laughed. As he watched the man leave the room, he made a mental note to tell the yellow mouse to be more careful in the future not to get caught.

 His eyes roamed over to Keith's pod, his mind reviewing the mission, something about the whole ordeal bothered him. Well, a few things about it bothered him.

 The door slid open again. Lance looked up, expecting it to be Coran forgetting something, but it was Pidge. She was in normal clothes, so she must've changed.

 Oh, and she looked _pissed._

Lance sat up straight, _here we go, round two_. It couldn't be nearly as bad as round one. 

 “You, you _jerk,”_ she screamed, prancing over to him in long steps, “why the hell weren't you answering your comms? Do you have any idea how it felt watching red vanish into a bunch of explosions? We thought you ...” she stood next to him, punching his arm, “Allura almost tear Shiro a new one till Coran told us you were fucking _alive!”_

 Lance rubbed on his hand, staring at her. That really hadn't been what he expected to get yelled at about.

 “Uh, red's communication must've failed during the blows, or she must've turned unnecessary parts off to get us back here.” He shivered at the reminder of her condition.

  _“Unnecessary,”_ Pidge scoffed.

 “Sorry. And I didn't know you cared so much Pidgey,” he teased.

 She gave him a glare, hopping next to him on the bed. She glanced over Keith's pod.

 “Coran gave us a quick update on him, he said it's not too bad?” 

 “No, he's fine,” Lance confirmed, even though it looked too bad to him. “he'll be out in less than a couple hours.”

 Pidge hummed, turning to him, “And what did our great leader had to say about it?”   
“Nothing much _—ow,”_ he placed a hand on his arm again, glaring at her, “Stop punching me.” 

 She pointed a finger at him, “Stop lying.” 

 “I wasn't lying—”

 “I could hear him yell, you know,” Pidge gave him a look, “from my room, a floor away.” 

 Lance hesitated for a second, he calmed himself with the thought that there was no way she had actually heard the words from that far, just the notion of the loud voice. Besides, Shiro had been scarily calm for most of ... _it._

 “It was fine.” 

 “Lance—” 

 “Pidge, I appreciate the concern,” He interrupted her, “but it was fine.” 

 Her lips pressed into a thin line, he could tell he was about to say more so he beat her into it, “So where is everyone?” 

 Hunk and Allura had yet to show up. They were fine, right? Lance really couldn't deal with more right now.

 “They were checking on Yellow. He got beat up badly.”

 Lance's stomach turned, “Hunk—” 

 “Hunk's fine. Yellow has the strongest armour remember?” Pidge reminded, “they're just checking his condition cause he got some heavy fire.” 

 “Oh,” Lance said, guilt spiralling through him even more, “I'm sorry about leaving you guys like that.”

 “It's okay, I understand why you did it, and I know you would've done the same for any other one of us. I'm sure the others will understand too,” She smiled at him.

 He felt his lips twitch up at the corners, but then her smile had to turn into a grin.

 “Besides, we all know how much you care about dear  _mullet._ We understand why you would go nuts like that in worry of your so called rival.” 

 Lance decided to let it pass. Right now, he had more important things to discuss with her.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he carried on as she nodded, she must've felt the seriousness in his tone, “before, what did you mean when you said they must've known we were coming?” 

 She blinked a few times at him, “Oh, I totally forgot about that. Well, The timer,” she frowned, “The timer wasn't set then. I thought it must've been activated by Keith and Krolia's entrance or movement but when I was checking the time left ... it had been going down for _hours._ I mean maybe they wanted to get rid of the data on their own but that doesn't make any sense. It was timed to blow the exact same time as we showed up, that's too much yo be random. It's like they knew—” 

 “We were coming,” Lance finished. He stepped off the bed, pacing the room.

 “That seems the case with all of our missions lately, doesn't it? It's like they always know what we're going to do before hand.” 

 Pidge tilted her head, looking at him.

 “You think we have a mole, don't you?” she stated more than asking.

 “It's just,” he rubbed his chin, “All our missions seem to go south. Remember the fog on ... _whatever_ its name was? It showed up just as we got there even though we checked the planet's atmosphere before and there was no such a thing. Or remember how on Xaian,” he paused to send her an apologetic look before continuing, “we were using the invisibility, but the galra soldiers know exactly where to find us? It's like they're always one step ahead of us.” he shook his head.

 Their mission kept going wrong, the other side always seemed too prepared. Lance could've called one or two times coincidence, but this kept happening, and he wasn't stupid enough to believe in that kind of randomness. He just had never had enough evidence to tell him that they had an informer in between them for sure till today. 

 “You do have a point. And I mean so many people know about our missions, it's highly possible one of them would be a spy,” Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, already in assessment mode, “Okay, let's see how many people knew about today's mission? Other than the eight of us ... the blade? One of them?” she asked.

 “No, no way,” Lance took another look at the occupied pod, “They're too loyal. And I highly doubt any informer could work under Kolivan's obsessive owl eyes.”

 “True,” She huffed a laugh, “Okay, well this next one's gonna make you very happy, it could be Lotor?” 

 Lance shook his head, “Unfortunately no, I can't think of any reason he would side against us like that. His best interest lies with us,” _for now._

 “Then,” she looked at him, “You think it's one of the rebels.” 

 “I,” He didn't like questioning people's loyalty like that. Specially loyalty of people who he'd fought with, people who were willing to give up their lives in this war, but they were the only ones left. “yeah. They're the only option.” he looked up at her with knitted eyebrows.

 She stayed quiet for a few moments, “It makes sense. A lot of them were exiled from the empire as criminals or thieves. I know a few of them were murderers. It's not that hard to think one of them would ... turn on us.” 

 Lance let go of his breath. He hadn't been sure how she would react to the suggestion. Her brother was one of them, and he was very dear to her. He made a small smile at her, “Can you ask Matt to take a look around, see if he can find anything?” 

 “Yup, on it,” she nodded jumping off the bed, walking towards the door, “Hey, that was pretty smart.” 

 That sounded more like an insult than a compliment. He squinted at her, “You don't have to sound that surprised.” 

 “Oh, no, I _really_ do.” 

 Lance just made a face at her. She made a few steps before he called to her, “Pidge, do you, do you think I should've listened to Shiro?” _should I have trusted him?_

 She paused, turning around. There was a deep line in between her brows, “No. No, if you had, he wouldn't be alive right now.” she pointed to the pod.

 “I'm sure Shiro would've pulled a miracle in the endor something, maybe do that teleport thingy with black.” 

 She only hummed in response.

 Lance sighed, “Sorry for bringing you into it.” He had asked her to do something that went against Shiro's wishes. He hadn't had another choice at the moment, but still.

 “Don't be. I'm glad I could help.”

 She made her way to the door, stopping there. “Lance, if it comes down to it, if it's between listening to his orders and yours, I'll go with yours.” 

 Lance felt his eyes round at her serious expression, or perhaps at the way she had worded the sentence. 

 He only nodded at her, watching as she left. He wished he could tell her it wouldn't come to that again, but he knew it would inevitably. He didn't agree with the way Shiro did things anymore. And Shiro, he was just ... he acted different.  _So_ different.

 Like the fact that he wasn't there right now. Or that he didn't show up, not when Krolia came to the room, thanking Lance for saving her son and they bonded over how dumb the said son was. 

 Not when the others showed up, and Lance apologised to them too. 

 Not even when Pidge came back, nodding at him and they all waited outside Keith's pod.

 Shiro didn't show up. 

 When had he ever not been there when Keith was in the pod?

 Sure, he was there when it came to the rest of them too. But it was different when it came to Keith. It didn't matter how slight the injury was, Shiro would always pace out side his pod till he would get out. 

 And it wasn't just when Keith was in the pods, he had gone full mama hen on him that one time Keith had gotten food poisoning. It had happened early on in their time in space, on one of the planets they visited. Keith had ended up sick after  eating a rather strange looking plant because Lance had dared him to—A fact that had came to hunt him when he'd seen the pained look on Keith's face later that day. Lance had tried to hide the guilt under the many jokes he'd made about Keith throwing up on one of the royal family members. Okay, so it really  had been funny. The look on her face had been pure gold. And to be frank Lance really hadn't thought Keith would eat the disgusting plant just because Lance said he was afraid, the thing was dripping something black and sticky. Nobody in their right mind would eat that. Of course he should've known better. Keith always rose to his childish challenges. And if Lance had helped Hunk make every food he could remember that was Keith's favourite, as a never worded apology, well nobody needed to know that—the point was Shiro had spent the entire night taking care of Keith, and making sure he was okay.

 He was always there when Keith needed him.

 So why wasn't he here now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have now decided a supportive Pidge and Lance bromance was all I was missing in life. :)


	49. Chapter 49

 It was quiet and dark, and then he was falling. His legs were about to start working when something, _arms_ caught him.

 “I've got you, my boy.”

 Keith opened his eyes, blinking a few times in the process. “Coran?”

 The Altean man smiled, “At your service. How are you feeling?”

“Uh, better,” Keith stood on his on, looking around. He was used to seeing Shiro outside his pod, but he wasn't there. Or ... or really _anyone._ The infirmary was rather empty.

 Coran seemed to followed his eyes, “The guys went to get some food earlier. They must've lost track of time. You know how they get.”

 “Oh.”

 “Let's get you there, you could use some nutrients too.”

 As if on cue his stomach gurgled. Even with the knowledge that pods had made him hungry, Keith felt his face getting warmer at the other man's chuckle. Keith hurried out the door but he came to a halt when he almost ran into someone in the hallway.

 Had she been pacing out there?

 “Sorry—” Krolia's face lit up as her eyes landed on him, “Oh, you're out.”

 Keith with-drew when she stepped forward. He might consider her closer but he wasn't sure he was okay with hugging her yet. She didn't seem to be offended by it though. Instead she just offered him ... his jacket?

 “Here, Lance said it's cold in the pods so I thought ...” she trailed off, pointing to her hand.

 Keith took it from her. He wasn't really cold. His body didn't really get affected by the cold anymore. It was like he was always running on warmth. But she was looking at him with hopeful? worried? eyes, so he put the jacket on. And okay, maybe her smile in response was kind of worth it.

 “Thanks.” he smiled.

 She nodded as the three of them started walking. “I'm really glad you're okay, Keith.”

 He really didn't get a chance to respond before she continued, “But what you did was rather well, _stupid._ You should've just left.”

 He turned to look at her with a frown. Keith understood why Lance or the team would say something like that, but her? She was a blade, she knew exactly why he did what he did.

 She held his gaze, “I told you before, I've never agreed with the blade's way.”

 Keith didn't respond, staying quiet till they arrived at the kitchen.

 Hunk was taking something out of the oven, Pidge and Allura on either side of him. He seemed to be explaining to them how to make ... whatever it was that he was making, the mixed smell really wasn't that familiar, and Keith didn't want to focus too much on it, it was too strong and it would only bring him a headache.

 Keith smiled, knowing the only reason the other two look interested was because they wanted to eat whatever he was baking.

 He took a look around the room but the other  three were the only ones there. No sign of Shiro or Lance, though. Perhaps, Keith couldn't say he was surprised, well _that_ surprised, by the former. Hurt? yeah, but not surprised. Not with the way he'd been acting recently. The latter though, Keith felt his brows knit together more.

 Pidge noticed them stepping inside the room, “Keith.”

 Hunk jumped up at her voice, letting go of the tray in his hand. It fell to the ground with a thud.

  _“Aw.”_ Allura and Pidge cried at the same time.

 “Well, there went my efforts of the last hour.” Hunk looked down at the scattered food on the floor.

 Keith huffed a laugh at the sad way the three were looking. The sound made them look up.

 “Oh, Keith.”

 They rushed towards him. He was surprised when Hunk picked him up in a bear hug, it turned to a group hug. The three of them telling him how worried they had been.

 “Man, I thought it'd be ready by the time you're be out,” Hunk added, going back to clean the mess on the floor as everyone settled down on the table.

 “What was _it_ exactly?” Keith asked. Coran placed a bowl of goo in front of him. Keith tried not to make a face. Man, he could've had actual food instead of that. Not that his body seemed to care, his hand had already picked the spoon.

 Rather than answering Hunk only looked to Krolia.

 “It's an old galran dish. They thought you might wanna try it.”

 Keith felt a small lump in his throat at the warm smiles the team, well anyone who was there, were giving him. They just came back from a mission, they must've been tired, instead of resting, they had decided to make him alien food because he might like it.

“Thanks, guys.”

 “Hey man, we're just glad you're all right.” Hunk replied.

 “Yeah,” Pidge agreed, punching Keith’s arm. “what kind of dumb shittery were you trying to pull, Keith?” she hit him again.

 Keith looked at her with rounded eyes as he rubbed on his arm. For a tiny person she had _way_ too much power.

 As soon as he dropped his hand she hit him again.

 “Pidge, stop it.” 

 “Nope, the dumber you are the more punches you get.”

 Keith only gave her a questioning look, but she didn't elaborate. “Then maybe I should go back to the pod.”

“Why? Are you all right? Do you not feel fully healed? But the pod indicated that you were—” 

 “No, Coran, I'm fine,” Keith interrupted the man's rant, raising a hand to reassure him. “I just meant I'll need one if she keeps hitting me.” 

 Pidge narrowed her eyes at him, “You really _do_ get funny at the worst times, don't you?”

 “Sorry,” Keith gave Coran an apologetic smile for worrying him.

 The others told him what had happened at their side and after Lance had ... come to get him. They seemed to have dealt with some serious trouble before getting away. His stomach turned at the thought of any of them getting hurt because of him.

 He kept his head low, “I'm sorry, guys. If I had just finished in—”

 “Oh, will you stop apologising?”

 Keith looked up at Allura at the interruption.

 “You did nothing wrong, missions just sometimes go wrong. However, if you were to apologize for the foolish way you decided to respond to that instead of asking for back up, now _that_ would be acceptable,” Allura's knitted eye brows gentled.

 How many times was he gonna get called stupid in one day? Specially for something that would've been considered honourable at the blade?

 “Yeah, what is it with you guys and saying sorry? Lance wouldn't shut up with them either, even though he literally did nothing wrong.” Pidge frowned.

 “Well, I mean ...” Hunk paused, sharing a look with Pidge, “How do you think Shiro reacted?”

 “I don't know, but I doubt it was a pat on the back.”

 Her answer was followed by a tense silence.

 Keith shook his head, leaving the thoughts for later, “Anyway, speaking of Lance, where is he?”

 Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, “Wow, look who finally grew some balls and asked.”

 “Pidge,” Hunk scolded. Yet, he turned to look at Keith with an equally horrid grin, “but _yeah,_ nice that you finally grew some to ask instead of looking around. I mean, buddy, if he was in the room you'd see him the first time you stuck your neck out like a, forgive my language, freaking girrafe.”

 A collective laugh followed.

 “I ...” Keith just dipped his head low, unfortunately not low enough, not to see the smirk on Allura's face.

 “Oh, my favourite is the time he tried to casually slip in Lance's name to the conversation. You looked so sad when none of us took the bait.”

 Keith slumped further down in his sit at the next wave of laughter. He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose, mostly to cover how red his face was turning. So, he wanted to know where Lance was. He hadn't been in the best condition earlier and Keith wanted to make sure he was okay, specially since he was kind the cause of his distress. And so what if he just wanted to see Lance? Did they have to make such a big deal out of it?

 “If you're done laughing, does any of you have an answer for me?” he asked when it became clear they weren't gonna stop anytime soon.

 “He was at the infirmary when we left. Apparently he couldn't leave _someone's_ side. He looked very offended by even the suggestion of it.” Allura supplied.

 But he hadn't been there when Keith woke up? He probably had left later. Keith frowned at the thought. It bothered him, and that wasn't fair, it had been a heavy mission of course Lance wanted to take a rest after. But Keith had thought ...

 “He fell sleep next to your pod.”

 Coran's words took his attention.

 “He seemed tired, so I let him sleep. But he should be still there.”

 “Oh.”

 So he hadn't _left._ Keith didn't even try to fight the sheepish smile that took over his face.  He stood up,

 “Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed early.” It was only late evening, a little early for sleeping but he had just came out of the pod. Of course, he was going to take a detour first, but they didn't need to know that.

 Five very unimpressed faces stared at him in response.

 “Sure, you are, Keith. We all completely believe that.”

 Keith turned around before the snickers would follow Krolia's comment. Did not mean he didn't hear them. 

 He returned the way back to the infirmary. He stopped in the door way. There Lance was, sitting on the floor, hugging his knees, his head lolled to the side resting against the pod Keith had came out of.

 He had been there all along. Keith had just never looked back to see him.

 He was now.

 His smile was involuntary as he stepped closer. Lance somehow managed to look cozy even like that, but Keith doubted he was actually comfortable sitting like that.

 Keith would carry him back to his room, but he wasn't sure he could in his current condition, besides it would be a little hard to explain if Lance woke up in the middle of the way.

 He could wake him up, but Coran had been right. He looked tired. And kind of small, all cramped up between two pods. And cold.

 Keith took off his jacket, draping it over Lance. The corner of his lips tugged upward at the small movement Lance did in response. He crouched down in front of him, looking at the face in front of him.

 Even asleep there was a deep line in between Lance's eyebrows. “sorry for worrying you.” Keith whispered, hand reaching involuntary to smoothen the frown. _That's better_. Instead of retracting his fingers decided to stay there, just barely moving the bangs to the side. His hair was really getting longer, wasn't ... Keith had a fraction of a second to recognise the change in Lance's heartbeat.

 Oh, shit.

 Words came before the blue eyes even opened, “Mullet, don't you know it's creepy to sneak up on asleep people?”

 “I—”

 Keith lost his balance, falling on his back. A chuckle followed. He joined in Lance's laugh, sitting.

 “And for your information, your crappy crop top jacket gives about zero amount of warmth.”

 The said jacket fell from over Lance's shoulder to his lap when he stretched his hands over his head. “I asked Coran to wake me up before you'd come out of the pod?”

 Keith smiled, “You looked tired, so he let you sleep. You should go to bed.”

 Lance made a laugh, standing up, “You're telling _me_ that? You must be exhausted, you just came out of the pod–wait, how long have you been—”

 “Not that long,” Keith replied.

 “Oh,” Lance offered a hand to help him get up, _“You_ should go to bed.”

 Keith didn't respond as they both started walking since that's exactly what he was planning to do.

 A little further in the hallway and he felt Lance putting the jacket around him. The protest of not needing it was shut in his throat when Lance didn't let go, his hands staying on Keith's shoulders, giving them a squeeze.

 A sigh escaped the taller boy as he returned to walking next to him. Keith glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. He'd seemed really upset earlier. 

 They were around their room when Keith gathered it in him to speak up, “Lance, about earlier—”

 “I have nothing to say about earlier,” Lance cut him off, looking straight forward, “I said what I wanted to say. Whether you want to listen or not, that's up to you.”

 Okay, so _correction:_ Lance was still really upset.

 “Lance, look, I had to finish my mission. I had to show Kolivan that I could.”

 “Oh, so you were trying to prove you're a badass? Well, congrats, you're the most badass of them all. You're Mr. Tough guy. You'll fit just right in with the rest of the blade.”

 Keith's feet stopped moving on their own accord. Why was it so hard to hear Lance say that?

 “What is your issue, Lance? I was just doing my job.” He snapped.

 Lance came to a halt next to him, “My _issue_ is that you knew you didn't have time, that you knew it was a fail, that you were afraid but you still wouldn't just leave.”

 “I wasn't _afraid.”_

 “Of course you were,” Lance said. “Everybody's afraid of dying. There's no shame to it, Keith, and you were _terrified._ I saw it in your eyes and I-I,” he ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. Keith heard how it did nothing to calm his erratic heartbeat.

 Lance turned his voice more gentle, “My issue is that putting your life at risk is not your job but you keep doing it. You keep doing reckless shit—”

  _“So?”_ Keith cut in, “like you don't do reckless shit? How many times have _you_ thrown yourself in risk to save someone else?”

 “Yeah, _exactly_ Keith, to save someone else. You gotta know when it's worth to take the risk. Someone's life? Yeah, it's worth it every time, but for information? You shouldn't have even considere—”

 “It was information we needed, Lance,” Keith cut him off, “Mission comes before all.”

 “No it _doesn't.”_ Lance threw his hands in the air. His face was gentle as he took a step forward, “You don't even believe in that.”

 “Yes, I _do.”_

 “No, you don't. So why are so insistent on this?”

 Blue eyes cracked their ways to him yet again. “Because I _have_ to be, Okay?” he blurted out breathless, “I have to believe in it. I have to prove to Kolivan that I do or he won't let me back, okay?”

 Keith watched as the remaining fierceness in those eyes vanished, leaving their place to something else.

 “So That's what this is about.” He whispered. He took a few breaths before looking up, “See, this is exactly why I don't think it's a good idea for you to go back, Keith.” 

“Do you have to?” Lance asked.

“I mean I know you don't want to- _can't_ stay, but do you have to _leave?”_  

 Keith averted his eyes. There were too many emotions swirling around in those oceans. There was no escape from Lance's tone or the desperate way his heart was beating.

 “Lance, I—”

 “We can share red.”

 “What?”

 “We can share red. You'll pilot her for three days, I'll pilot her on three days. We can take her on picnics on Sundays.”

 Keith huffed a laugh. “Lance, that's ... we're not getting a divorce with red as our shared custody child.” He tried his angle at humour. 

 Lance didn't seem amused, though even if he had been the one who suggested that. He looked to the side, “Maybe I should,” he bit his lip, “Maybe I should just—”

 “Don't,” Keith cut in. There was something about the way Lance was holding on to his own arm, the way he was holding himself that Keith didn't like. “Whatever you're thinking, _don't._ ”

 “Why not?” Lance made a laugh, “It'll make the job easier on Shiro.”

 “What?” What was he talking about?

 Lance stilled, blinking a few times at him, before he shook his head, a smile overtaking his lips. “Nothing, nothing. I won't keep you from your sleep.”

 He turned around, but Keith grabbed his hand before he could take a single step.

 “Wait, I, um, thank you. Thank you for ...” he trailed off. He wasn't delusional, he was fully aware that if Lance hadn't shown up, he would be dead.

 Lance's expression was quick to change. His lips curved up as he interlocked their fingers of their still joint hands. “Hey, I've got your back, always.” He gave Keith's hand a small pressure before letting go.

 Keith watched him go into his room before he did the same. _Always?_ That was rather a long amount of time to promise something like that, wasn't it? So why did Keith believe that with everything he had?

 

 It was some time later. Keith's eyes were already warm with sleep but something was keeping him up. Lance was still awake, from the tapping sound, he must be working on his tablet. Wasn't he planning on sleeping?

 “What are you doing?” 

 “Trying to figure out a way to fix my fuck up.”

 “Your ... fuck up?” Keith asked.

 “Sorry, sorry,” Lance responded intantly, “I didn't mean to say that out—”

 “Did-did Shiro say that to you?” Keith's stomach lurched at even considering it. But what else could explain that?

 Lance went silent for some time.

 “You know, I always thought the first time he'd curse like that it would be at me or Pidge doing something dumb or ... I was planning on never letting him off the hook. I never thought it would be like this.”

 Keith both shuddered and his hands turned to fists at the tone. _“What_ did he exactly say to you, Lance?”

 “Nothing much, don't worry, just go to sleep.”

 “Lance—”

 “Sleep, mullet. Your body needs it. We can talk about this later.” 

Keith had a feeling if he couldn't get anything out of Lance now he never would but his body seemed to side with Lance. His exhaustion took over. “Later,” he whispered as he drift off. It was the most restless sleep of his life.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm late for the update, _again._ Season 7 just pulled me in. I mean I've been knee deep in Shiro and–SPOILERS. I mean is it really spoilers? Is there anyone who doesn't know this by now? If there is, don't read thus and also _wow,_ you must have no social media life what so ever, which means you must have a great real life, and I envy you (no, I don't. I like having no life) Anyway–I've been knee deep in Shadam ~~hell~~ heaven. And can I just say that I love it (I will never _ever_ get over _‘Takashi, How important am I to you?’_ )
> 
> I just can't believe dreamworks actually did that. They took the one single character that everyone loves and is like the epitome of strength to the team and made him gay and I'm just so happy. Like this is so big?!
> 
> The trailer (both of them) and the first episode killed me. And the flashbacks, _oh my god._ I'm so excited for this season, it looks epic. I haven't been able to stop listening to the damn song from the trailer for some reason.
> 
> Sorry for the rant, I just have a lot of feelings and I needed to let them out :)
> 
> (Also Lance and Keith have known each other since they were fetuses and I called it :p )


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _“There are two types of people in the world: those who prefer to be sad among others, and those who prefer to be sad alone.”_
> 
>  
> 
> \- Nicole Krauss  
> 

 “All right, enough for now, we're taking a break.”

 “Lance, we just started.”

 Lance shook his head, deactivating his bayard, “Nope, we've been at this for at least two hours now. You were in a pod just yesterday. Off to the break you go.”

 Keith crossed his arms over his chest, resisting walking on his own as Lance pushed him towards the corner of the training room. Did not seem to make Lance stop.

 “Stop babying me, I'm fine.” Keith said. Lance had been acting like that all day, it might've been adorable at first, but it was getting ridiculous now. The Pods didn't let you out until they declared you in full health, so Keith was probably in the best physical condition he'd been in months. He did not need to be treated like a pregnant lady.

 Lance mimicked his sentence in a mocking way pushing him down to sit. He took a seat to the wall next to him, picking up the water bottle. He handed the other one to Keith.

 “Man, I miss water,” Lance said after taking a sip. “I know on the list of things I miss from earth that should be pretty low. But man, I _really_ miss water. Whatever the castle adds to this to recycle it, I do not like the taste of it. And don't even get me started on the fact that we're pretty much drinking our own pee.” He made a face at the bottle in his hand putting it away.

 He looked at Keith when he huffed a laugh, “No, seriously, the first thing I'm gonna do when we go back is drink ten gallons of water even if it's tap water.”

 “I don't think that's physically possible. You're gonna pop if you drink that much.”

 “It's worth it.”

 Keith rolled his eyes.

 “What about you?” Lance asked, “Any dumb things you miss?”

 Keith leaned to the wall, next to him, “Nachos.”

 “I miss Coffee.”

  _“Obviously,”_ he gave a side glance to Lance, earning a laugh. “skittles,” Keith added.

 “Let me guess, you're one of those heathens who like the sour ones.”

 “They're the best.”

  _“Sure,_ mullet.”

 “Pop tarts.”

 “Fries.”  
“Oh god,” Lance rested his head back to the wall, closing his eyes, “I'd kill for some curly fries right now. I mean Hunk tried to remake the taste with some stuff but it's just not the same.”

 “Pizza.”

 “Mom's garlic knots.”

 “My bike.”

 Lance chuckled, “Oh, you mean the one you stole from Garrison? Yeah, I'd miss that too.”

 “I didn't _steal_ it. It was Shiro's. They had no right to hold on to it,” Keith's hands turned into fists. _Pilot failure_ , those liars.

 Lance looked to the side, “I miss having a spot.”

 “A ... spot?”

 “Yeah, you know like a place that's just yours. Don't get me wrong, I love living in an alien castle-ship or whatever, and I love everyone around here, but there's just no place you can go to be alone. I mean there's our rooms, but everyone knows where to find you.”

 Lance smiled, “Back home, there was this cliff, I found it when I was five? Six? Maybe it was too scary looking or something but no one ever went there, it was like my place. I used to go there, just watching the waves for hours.”

 “And at garrison, look I love Hunk, but some times you just wanna be alone, you know? I used to go to—”

 “The rooftop?” Keith suggested.

 Lance shook his head, _“Nah,_ that's everyone's go to. No, there was this little balcony on the second floor I used to sneak to. It was kind of hidden in the west wing between the lab and—”

 “and the library. Yeah, Shiro used to take me there all the time,” Keith smiled at the memory.

 Lance didn't share the smile. Instead, the same set of emotions that vanished quicker than Keith could make sense of them passed his eyes, like it had every other time someone had mentioned Shiro that day.

 Keith took another look at the other boy's dropped shoulders and deep frown, and stood up. He held a hand in front of Lance.

 Lance raised an eyebrow at him.

 “Come on, I wanna show you something.”

 Lance eyed the hand, squinting at him suspiciously, “What?”

 “You'll see,” he smirked, “what, don't you trust me?”

 Lance was quick to take his hand, standing up. “I do,” He held on to the hand though. “More than the universe.”

 Keith stared at him. He'd been joking, but of course Lance had to answer it like _that,_ looking at him with those blue eyes. “Right.” His voice cracked. Keith turned before Lance could see his face's reaction. But the chuckle followed him anyway, as did the maker of it.

 Lance stayed quiet for some time, walking by Keith's side. Keith hid his smile feeling Lance's growing frustration of not knowing where they were headed.

 The other boy spoke up eventually, “Not to be going back on the trust thing, but this is starting to feel like the first five minutes of every scary movie I've ever seen. You're not planning on murdering me, are you, mullet? Cause if you are, you should know I'm a screamer. the whole castle will know before you make a single move.”

 “No, Lance, I'm not planning on murdering you,” Keith snorted. “but if I were you wouldn't get a chance to scream.”

 Lance quirked his brow, “Oh, yeah?”

 “Yeah.”

 Lance glanced at him for a couple more seconds before gesturing towards the hallway, “But seriously where are you taking me? I don't think I've ever been this far in the castle.”

 “I kind of didn't know my way around the castle when we first got here, so I used to wander a lot around here and I accidentally found—”

 “Wait wait, hold the phone,” Lance held up his hand, “you mean to tell me those first weeks you showed up late to training, you weren't just brooding in the corner of your room, you were ... lost?”

 “Uh, yeah.” Allura and Coran had had to come and find him. It had been embarrassing. At least thank god they didn't tell anyone.

 He looked up at the loud snicker.

 “Oh my, _oh my god_ , Keith.”

 “It's a big a castle.” Keith defended. Not that the laughing figure next to him seemed to care.

 “Oh my god. This is the best–you're telling me _the_ Keith Kogane, Mr. Instinct himself has a bad sense of direction?”

 “Shut up.”

 “Buddy, you could've just told me. I would've held your hand so you wouldn't get lost in the way to the bridge.”

 “Shut up, Lance,” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. It was _not_ that funny.

 “You know as short as you are, you must be the tallest eight year old I've ever seen.”

 Keith gave him a side glare, “You know you're chances of getting murdered are increasing by the second.”

  _“Ooh,_ I'm _so_ scared, mullet,” Lance mocked, “Would you even be able to find your way to me, there's like a feet space between us.”

 “I think I'd manage.”

 “Oh?” The change in Lance's expression was quick as he leaned towards Keith. He raised an eyebrow, “Exactly manage what, Keith? Finding your way to me?”

 It took everything in Keith to detach his eyes from the smirk on those lips.

 He swallowed, “Anyway, I came across this place by accident.”

 “And what is this place?”

 Keith only gestured forward, towards the spiral staircase. Lance gave him another look before following up the few stairs, Keith right behind him.  
The other boy stopped as he stepped in the new room.

 He gasped, looking around. “Okay, I'll be honest. I don't mind getting murdered here.”  
  
 The place was on the last one of the castle floors on one of the four wings. Unlike any other place in the castle or even the bridge there wasn't a single light there, and the walls were all glass. Only the shine of the far away stars lightened the room.

 “I guess this is my place, I know it's not much—”

 “ _Shut up,”_ Lance looked at him with a big smile, “Shut up, Keith, it's perfect.” He continued to look up, as he sat on the floor, lying with a hand under his head.

 Keith took a spot next to him. Looking up, it almost felt like looking up at the sky from earth. Well just almost.

 Lance raised his hand, pointing up, “That's Ariadne,” he followed a labyrinth shape of stars, “Coran said Alteans believe there's unbelievable treasure in that center, if you can find it.”

 “And that's Phaedra.” He pointed towards a bright red star in the corner. He carried on naming other objects in their view.

 “What?” Lance eventually asked. He must've noticed Keith was observing him more than above.

 “I didn't know you knew so much about,” Keith just pointed upwards. He too had had a decent astronomical knowledge back on earth. well he had to. But as soon as they had joint the castle it became clear that Garrison with all it claims had about zero knowledge over the universe's map. It went farther beyond their imagination and since they had the star maps at the castle and the blade Keith had never bothered or had time to learn any of it. Apparently not the case with Lance.

 “I want to. I want it to look as familiar as possible,” Lance said. “I miss it. I miss looking up and knowing where everything is. Whenever I felt homesick at garrison I used to look up at the sky knowing they were under the same one. I know it's dumb, but it made me feel better. and I know I wanted to go to space, but I just ... I'm not looking at the same sky anymore, Keith.”  
Keith looked at him from the corner of his eyes. The room was dark, but not to Keith's eyes, he could see as clear as day and he wished he couldn't. He didn't want to see how sad Lance looked while knowing there was nothing he could offer to make him feel better. Keith's family was up here with him. If anything, he'd gained family because of all this. Lance hadn't.

 “Why did you want to be a pilot?” Lance broke the silence.

 “I, uh,” Keith stumbled over the words, surprised by the question.

 “Shiro snuck me into the simulator once and I was great at it and I just, It was the first thing I liked, loved doing. I loved flying, it felt—”

 “Free?” Lance offered.

 Keith nodded, feeling the corner of his lips tug up. Even with him having the highest records, Shiro had pulled a miracle for them to let him in.

 “What about you?” Keith asked, “What made you want to be a pilot?”

 “My dad, I guess,” Lance smiled, “We used to sneak out to the beach at nights, watching the sky for like hours. Mom got so mad at us for staying out so late, and he promised he wouldn't take me out again, but we did every night. It was our thing. Everything I knew about space, he taught me. Veronica always said I was his favourite. Obviously he never said anything but ...” he laughed.

 Well, Keith could understand why Lance would be a parent's favourite even if they weren't suppose to have one. Really, he could understand why Lance would be anyone's favourite.

 But something about what Lance had said bothered him. Why was he using ...?

  _“Was?”_

 “Oh,” Lance turned his head towards him, “My dad, he, um ... he died when I was nine.”

 Keith half sat, propping up on his elbow, “What? That's not funny, Lance.”

 He regretted the words as soon as he said them.  
It was already too late though. Lance looked at him with hurt eyes, taken aback. A line appeared between his brows, “I, I wasn't joking. I would never joke—”

 “I know, I'm sorry,” Keith cut in with a hushed voice, “I'm sorry. I didn't, I just ... I didn't know.” He didn't know.

 How could he not know?

 Lance gave him a small smile, “It's all right. I don't exactly go around talking about it.”

 “Do the others ...?”

 “Hunk and Pidge do, cause his, uh, his anniversary back on earth. And I told Allura after the crystal thing and King Alfor's consciousness or whatever. I might've mentioned it to Coran. So I guess Shiro is the only one who doesn't know now.”

 “I'm sorry, I can't believe I never even ... asked.”

 He'd known Lance for almost two years now, ignoring their garrison time. And it's not like they were that close at first, and yes he might've been at the blade for months but still. How could he not know? But it explained why Lance rarely ever had mentioned his dad in his stories.

 Lance frowned more, “Look, man, if you wanna guilt yourself find something else, okay? It just never got brought up. I don't go starting conversations with it. It's not exactly happy.”

 “Right, sorry,” Keith slapped himself in his mind. _What's wrong with you?_ Lance shouldn't be comforting him right now.

 “How did he ...?” Keith asked, “if that's all right for me to ask.”

 “Cancer. It had already spread through his,” Lance swallowed. “It was already too late by the time we found out. There wasn't anything we could do but just ...” He kept his eyes up as he continued, a slight shake to his voice, “It sucked. I mean I was pretty young and I don't remember much but it sucked watching him slowly ... watching how much it affected my mom. It just ...” Lance inhaled sharply.

 Keith didn't know what to say, but speaking from experience which he had in a way, there was anything he could say that would help. He only shuffled closer to Lance, letting their shoulders touch, letting him know he was there.

 “What was he like?” he asked after some like.

 “The best,” Lance made a smile, looking at him with shiny eyes, “I know a lot of people say that. But he really was the best. Believe it or not, I was actually a shy kid and he was my best friend. It was impossible not to love him. Everyone who knew him did. He made everyone laugh easily, it's like it was his mission to make everyone happy. He was even making us laugh the day he ...”

 “And mom, oh the way he made my mom happy. They loved each other so much, I could see it in their eyes. She seemed so sad for so long after him. The first time I did make her laugh again felt like a miracle.” 

 “He cared so much about ... everything and everyone.He's still the kindest man I know to this day. He was just ... I miss him, I miss him so much, Keith.” Lance rubbed his eye with his hand.

“I wanted to be just like him. That's why I wanted to be a pilot. Space was our thing, and it made me feel closer to him.” Lance huffed a laugh, “Well, that and space being cool and all.”

 Keith gave him a few seconds before saying, “You are, you know.”

 “What?”

 “Like him. Everything you just described that's you. I guess you do take after him,” Keith smiled at him. Well, that finally solved the mystery of how Lance had turned up that amazing.

 “Mullet, you have no idea how much that means to me.” Lance returned the smile, wiping his eyes with one hand.

 “I'm not crying.”

 “Okay.”

 “I'm _not._ It's just really dusty in here, you know. There's ten thousand years worth of dust here.” he didn't seem to be able to stop the tears with one hand, so he rubbed on his eyes with both.

 “Yeah, there is,” Keith agreed, glancing around before his eyes landed on those shiny blue ones, “but even if you are crying then that's all right.”

 His words brought something between a laugh and a sob out of Lance. He didn't say anything, just tilting his head to lie against Keith's shoulder.

 The sniffs continued for a while. All Keith wanted to do was wrap his arms around Lance and push him to himself to let him know everything was fine but he wasn't sure he was allowed so he just rested his head on top of Lance's.

 “Did you know I hate getting compliments?” Lance asked after some time.

 Keith huffed a laugh, “I'm sorry, are we talking about the ones you give yourself or the ones others give you?”

 “Haha, very funny, Keith,” Lance made a face at him, “I mean I love getting them, who doesn't? And really someone as awesome as me deserves them, but,” he paused, “They also scare me. When you get one, if you don't get another soon, it's like you've failed that person or something. I, I don't like failing people.” His voice cracked.

 “Lance,” Keith called gently, making Lance look up at him, “You're not failing anyone ... certainly not your dad. I didn't know him, but I'm sure he's proud of you.”

 Lance smiled at him. He closed his eyes pushing his forehead to the side of Keith's face, “Thanks, Keith.” He whispered.

 They stayed there for who knows how long. Sharing small worlds of stories with each other. Keith told him of stories he had never told anyone, never thought he would. But he didn't mind telling them now.

 Not when the world consisted of only the two of them under the dance of a million stars, not when the only things he heard were Lance's and his own heartbeats and their hushed voices, not when blueberry was the only scent in the existence, not when Lance's head was tucked next to his, not when he felt more comfortable than he had in a lifetime, not when he felt home.

 “We should be getting back,” Keith whispered reluctantly, any louder and it would be breaking their glass world. But they had a life to get back to, “Coran's gonna be pissed if we skip dinner.”

 “Yeah,” Lance responded, sitting up. Keith followed.

 “Whoa.”

 “What?” Keith asked, noticing the way Lance was looking at him.

 Lance narrowed his eyes at him, “Nothing, I just thought ... nothing, I must've imagined it or something,” he shook his head, “Anyway, thanks for sharing your spot with me, Keith. If there's any other spots of yours you wanna share with me,” he wiggled his brows, “I'm always up for that too.”

 That damn smirk was gonna be the death of Keith, he just knew it. He shoved the laughing Lance, before getting up.

 Lance was quick to walk next to him, “But really, this is your place, why would you just bring me here?”

 “I don't mind you being here,” Keith shrugged a shoulder.

 “Well, I'll be damned. The great Keith Kogane doesn't mind the little old cargo pilot being in his solitude. Now, if you would've told me that back in garrison, I would've called you _crazy.”_

 Keith rolled his eyes, pushing him towards the stairs, Lance chuckled not really resisting the push, he stopped at the top of the staircase though, looking back at Keith with a soft smile, “I meant it though, I appreciate that you let me here, but this is your place to be alone. I won't come here again if you don't want me to.”

 “I meant it too, Lance. I don't mind if it's you.”  
Keith wasn't sure what was making him being that honest. Perhaps the remaining of their bubble before the real world would burst it.

 “Yeah?” Lance whispered.

 “Yeah.”  
Lance only gazed at him in response, with soft eyes, and a softer smile. Perhaps they were too soft, or perhaps they went on for too long, or perhaps it was the weird fast way his heart was beating, Keith found himself asking, “So are you planning on moving any time soon?”  
Lance blinked at him a few times before saying, “Huh?”

 “The stairs?” Keith gestured towards him.

 Lance followed Keith's hand with his eyes, “Oh, oh, right, the stairs,” he took a step down, “right, moving, okay.”

 Keith shrugged, shaking his head following the taller boy down the stairs.

 

 Keith shuffled around in his bed again. He had been trying to sleep for the last couple hours. But unlike last night he wasn't exhausted enough to just fall sleep when Lance was clearly still awake.

 “What are you doing still up?”

 “Well, I could ask you the same question, mullet,” Lance replied.

 How could Keith tell him he was the reason he was awake.

 “Am I keeping you up?” Lance asked, “I'm sorry, I tried to be as quiet as possible.”

 Keith smiled. Well, that explained how soundless his tapping on the tablet was. It wasn't his fault that Keith could hear it perfectly, and it wasn't really what kept him up.

 “No, no, just ... aren't you tired? You couldn't have gotten much sleep last night?”

 They had spent most of the day fixing up red and yellow before ending up in the training room. Keith had showed up pretty soon in the morning to help, but even then apparently Lance and Coran had been working on them for hours. Lance had even made Hunk and the others apology cookies for breakfast too. Apparently as someone who always made food for others, he loved having food made for him. So if Lance had woken up that early, and he had gone to sleep that late last night, exactly how much sleep had he gotten?

 “Nope, I'm good.”

 “You still haven't told me what you're doing.” Keith asked.

 “I'll tell you as soon as I find something.”

 “Couldn't you do that during the day?”

 “I could but _somebody_ decided to take me stargazing for like hours so I'm a little behind the schedule.”

 “There's always tomorrow,” Keith suggested.

 “Oh my god, mullet,” Lance laughed, “I'll sleep soon, okay? You don't have to worry about me.”

 Keith debated asking him why he was the only one who could worry and Keith couldn't return the favour, but he only said, “Okay, goodnight.”

 “Good night, Keith.”

 Keith was planning to wait up until he slept to make sure but whatever tune Lance had started to hum was making warming his eyes. Seriously, they should just sell Lance in little bottles as cure for insomnia.

 Then again Keith wasn't willing to share Lance with anyone. Some part of his sleepy brain protested that Lance wasn't his to share. The other yelled at it to shut up, because yes, yes he was. Keith hadn't drifted off far enough not to know which part he agreed with.

 

 He woke up to the knocking sound on his door.  
“Keith, wake up, I think I found something.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I can't believe I'm posting this on his birthday, I promise next chapter will be happier :)
> 
> **HAPPY LANCE DAY!!!**
> 
> **☆*･゜ﾟ･*\\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆**
> 
> (P.S: sour skittles _are_ the best ones, fight me on this (ง •̀_•́)ง )


	51. Chapter 51

 “We gotta show this to the others,” Keith looked at him once Lance was finished telling him he'd found.

 He nodded, standing up from the bed. He didn't even make it to the door before Keith grabbed his arm, stopping him.

 “Hey,” he paused for Lance to turn back, “Nice job.”

 “Yeah?” 

 “Yeah.”

 “I'm proud of you,” he added, before letting go of Lance's arm. Not that Lance was going anywhere. No, seriously, if it was up to him he would stand there forever, staring at the smile on Keith's lips. There was something about his soft smiles that made it impossible to look away. Actually, all of his smiles were like that.

 God, Keith was going to kill him.

 Keith frowned, “What? Why?”

Lance stilled, damning himself for thinking out loud again. He really needed to get under control.

 And _‘Why?’_ _Really, Keith? ‘Why?’_  for someone pretty smart, Keith could be so ... Lance covered his eyes with one hand, shaking his head slightly, “Let's just go.”

 

 It was still too early in the morning, but Coran and Krolia were already in the bridge when he and Keith arrived there.

 “We need to call a meeting,” Keith announced.

 “We _could_ do that or,” Lance walked to the panel in the middle of the room, tapping on the button.

  _“Lance,”_ Keith scolded as the alarm rang through the castle.

 “What?” Lance grinned at him, leaning his back to the panel, “Technically, this _is_ a way of calling a meeting.”

 He could tell Keith was trying to hold back his laugh, eventually he just gave in smiling, as he took a place next to him.

 Allura was the first one to show, followed by Pidge. They walked up to them, panting.

 Perhaps it was the big grin Lance was wearing that made them both narrow their eyes at him.

 “This isn't an actual emergency, is it?”

 “You should be glad that it's not,” Lance pointed to the timer, “It took you almost a minute to get here. You're not even in armour,” he clicked his tongue, shaking his head, “I am disappointed in you, princess.”

 She gave him a flat stare. 

 “Yeah, pay back is a bitch, isn't it, Allura?”

 Keith snickered next to him, so did Pidge. The two of them were probably getting flashbacks to all the times Allura rang the alarm on them too. Seriously, she had no boundaries those first few weeks, whether it was the middle of the night or when they had just came back from a mission, she would set the alarm as a drill like there was no tomorrow.

 Surprisingly she joined in on their laugh. She placed a hand on Lance's shoulder. Okay, that was kind of a hard grip.

 “That's funny,” she laughed, “that's _really_ funny.” Her hold on Lance's shoulder became even tighter as her laugh came to a sudden halt, _“not.”_

 She pointed her other hand at him, “You better have a good reason for waking me up, or else I'm gonna punch your pretty boy face in a way that no one, and I mean _no one_ ,” was that side-glance to Keith really necessary? “will ever look at it again.”

 “ _Pretty boy face?_ ” Lance snorted, “Wow, you're really out of it, aren't you?”

 He nudged Keith’s side next to him, “Hey, I think I found someone who hates mornings as much as you. You guys should start a club.”

 Keith did _not_ look amused. 

 “Everybody hates mornings, Lance,” Pidge stated, “Maybe you should start a one man morning lover club.”

 “That's not true, I already have Coran on my side, so it would be at least a two man club.”

 “Lance,” Allura give him a smile, “that threat still holds.”

 “Yeah, make it a double threat,” Pidge added, squinting at him, “I did not pull an all-nighter for you little fucker to take me from my work.”

“Pidge, watch it, and all right,” Lance offered his hands in peace. The duo's faces became serious as he gave them a quick idea of why he'd rang the alarm which still was going on.

 Allura began speaking as soon as he finished, “I'll contact the rebel base while we're waiting for others. Coran, you call the—”

 “Wait, maybe you shouldn't do that.”

 She turned to look at him with a frown, “Why not?”

 “Uh,” Lance paused, “just trust me?”

 “You wanna test it?” Pidge asked, well more like observed.

 Lance nodded.

“Huh, not a bad idea,” she held up her fist for him to pound.

 “Test what?” Keith asked, looking between them.

 “I'll tell you if it turns out to be anything important. I'm just gonna need you guys to trust me on this. Just don't contact them, okay?” Lance looked to Allura.

 The line between her brows deepened, but she nodded, “All right.”

 “Thanks.” he was aware that it was unfair of him to ask her to do that without giving any reasons. But he had to be certain before going around throwing accusations at people. Pidge had reported back from Matt's behalf that he hadn't find anything on any of the rebels, and this was a way to know for sure if there was a mole among them.

 Hunk showed up a few moments later, Shiro after him.

 The man stood in the room, eyes going around  before landing on the alarm and then on Lance standing to it. He frowned.

 “This better not be a joke.”

 Well, that was presumptuous. Lance immediately declined the idea of teasing him about how late he'd gotten there, he had a feeling it would not end well.

 “It's not. It was just the fastest way to get everyone here.”

 “And why did you need everyone here?” Shiro demanded.

  Hunk nodded at his side, “Yeah, man, I was in a middle of dreaming about pies,” he pouted.

 “Sorry,” Lance offered.

 Shiro crossed his arms over his chest, “So?” 

 Lance smiled, fingers playing with the hem of his jacket. He was just as nervous as excited. If he was right, this was gonna be a big deal. But other than it could give him a chance to mend things with ...

 He took a breath in, stepping forward, “I've been going through the mission logs, and I cross-referenced them to everything the blade and the rebellion and Prince annoying has given us and—”

 “Excuse me?” Shiro cut in, “I didn't authorise you to do that.”

 “I know but—”

 “There's no but, if you knew, then you shouldn't have done that.”

 Lance stared at him. He hadn't expected to be interrupted before he even started. “I just went through a couple of files.” What was the big deal?

 “A couple of files you didn't have permission to go through.”

 Right, because they needed permission to go through the information they had, because some of it was _classified,_ which made absolute no sense to Lance. They were a team. Why the hell did they need to classify information between themselves?

 “Look, I was just trying to fix my mess.” This was the first conversation he'd had with Shiro in two days. He had thought it would go a different way than the last one, but apparently _not._ Lance frowned as the memory flashed across his eyes.

 A frown that was mirrored in Shiro's expression. “Then you should've done a better job of doing it than disobeying me again.”

 Lance just held up his hands, “Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Next time, I'll ask.”

 “I don't want your _sorry,_ Lance. I want you to learn to listen.”

 Oh, that was so not fair. He wasn't the one who had a problem listening. Lance snapped when the older man decided to add ‘ _It's not that hard. Even you should be able to do it.’_

 “I found Sendak.” 

Shiro froze, eyeing him before he took a step forward, “What?”

 “I mean I think I did,” Lance corrected, “Well, I'm pretty sure I did, like at least eighty percent sure. Actually raise that to ninety. Maybe eithy-five—”

 “Lance,” Keith cut his nervous rant, giving him a smile. It weakened as he continued, yet looking to Shiro instead, “ _calm down_.”

 The man clenched his jaw, his eyes hadn't left Lance, “You know where Sendak is?”

 Lance nodded, ignoring the tone. he walked to the panel, connecting his tablet to it. He tapped on it for the image to show up, “I came across this place going through, uh, the files,” he glanced at Shiro and back, “It's just an abandoned galra headquarters. Nothing special, right? But there's been a ton of galra activity reported, which isn't that big of a deal, I know,” he pointed out before any of the team would, “but look at the date the reports started coming in.” He scrolled up the data, pointing to the first number. 

“Okay, why is that so special?” Hunk asked.

 “Aw, is it your birthday?” Pidge mocked.

 “Ha ha, no,” he made a face at her, though he was grateful for the tension breaker, “It's exactly a week after the Kral Ze- _whatever_ it's called.”

 “Rebels have also reported increase in arms trafficking and metal sales in the entire galaxy starting from around the same day. What if he's the one gathering the galra forces together? I think the former empire generals would definitely follow someone like him.”

 “I mean we did think it was weird for them to follow Haggar. So it it does make more sense that they would follow him, rather than her.” Pidge replied, placing a hand under her chin.

 Lance snapped his fingers at her, “Right, that's exactly what I thought at first. _But_ ,” he tapped on the panel, “then I found this on the footage from one of rebels trading ships going through the area.”

 The image was blurry, and with low quality, but it wasn't that hard to make the shape.

 Allura tilted her head, looking at the screen, “It, it looks like Lotor's ship. But I don't remember him going through that area—”

 “Witch's bitches,” Pidge cut her off, looking to Lance with realization.

 Lance nodded, grinning, “What if they're working together?”

 A scoff followed.

 “You think _Sendak_ and _Haggar_ are working together?” Shiro spoke, eyebrows raised.

 Lance tried not to take the clear disbelief directed at him personally. He blamed it on Shiro not wanting the two people who'd done him so wrong to team up. Or at least he tried to. 

He looked to Keith when the other boy took a step, standing next to him. “She was the one who brought him to the Kral Zera in the first place, wasn't she?” Keith said facing Shiro. “It's possible that they're still working together and even if not Lance is right about the Sendak part.”

 “Well, like I said eighty percent sure,” Lance felt the need to add. Keith sounded more sure in him than Lance was. Lance wanted to make it was clear that there was a chance, a high chance he was wrong.

 “But hey good news, we can make sure. Keith says blade had a hideout base near there. So all we need to do is contact them and ask them to take a look around. If they don't find anything, then no harm done,” he raised his shoulders, “but if they do—”

 “We're not gonna do that,” Shiro interrupted, holding his hand up, _“Before_ we're going to call a Blade’s base and ask them to just leave their post abandoned doing us a favour, we need to make sure any of this is actually correct.”

 “It _is,_ I double checked everything.”

 That wasn't true, Lance had checked everything at least five times before even going to Keith, and they ended up checking things once more together too.

“Yes, exactly my point, Lance,” Shiro smiled, taking the tablet out of Lance's hand. _“You_ checked it.”

 “Oh,” Lance's shoulders dropped. He looked down.

 He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, “Respectfully Shiro, If Lance says he's sure, then I don't think there's any need to—”

 “Respectfully Allura, I did _not_ ask for your opinion.”

 Lance frowned. It was one thing for Shiro to talk to him like that, but Lance wasn't okay with ... _anyone_ talking to his team like that.

 Shiro take a look around the room, “Actually I'm not asking for any of your opinions. You can leave me to make sense of this, I'll let you know when to come back.”

 The team shared a look with each other.

  _“Now.”_

 Lance tried not to shake his head as he turned, pointing the others to leave too. They all stood outside the bridge's doors.

 “Well, if no one else is gonna say it, I will,” Allura pointed to the closed doors behind them, “he's turned into a douche-bag.”

 Nobody argued.

 Lance ran a hand through his hair. He smiled at the others, “Let's wait in the lounge.”

 “Actually you guys go ahead, I think I'm gonna go back to sleep. Wake me up whenever he comes down of his high horse?” Allura said, already walking away.

 “Lady, you might need to sleep for another ten thousand years before that happens.” Pidge replied. She shrugged when Lance sent her a look, “What?”

 Lance sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand. This was getting harder to deal with.

 “You got it,” he called after Allura before starting to walk in the lounge's direction.

 “You could use some sleep too,” Keith walked beside him. Voice loud enough for only Lance to hear. “Did you get any sleep at all last night?”

 “I did.”

 “You know I can tell when you lie, right?”

 “How dare you, mullet?” Lance gasped putting a hand on his chest, “There's _no_ way you can tell. I'm an excellent liar. I once missed an entire week of school because of a stomach-ache I never had.”

 Keith did not respond. 

 “I did, just a bit, but I did,” Lance reassured him.

 Keith's eyes stayed on him though, a line between his brows, “You didn't get much sleep the other night either, did you?”

 “Dude, don't worry, I'm not gonna fall sleep in the middle of a mission. Besides Pidge isn't the only one who can pull an all nighter. I did quite a few of those  back in my younger days,” he stroked his imaginary beard.

 Keith didn't laugh, “It's not the mission I'm worried about.”

 Lance tilted his head, raising an eyebrow, “Whoa, careful there, Keith, or people might think you don't put the mission above _all.”_

 He meant it as a tease but Keith frowned even more.

 Lance bumped his shoulder with his own, “Hey, I know you don't. And don't worry, I _am_ fine. But remind me to take a pair of flip-flops with us before we go.”

 Keith's expression turned lost, “Wha– _why_?”

 “We gotta kill that cockroach somehow.”

 Keith finally laughed. Lance's grin turned into a softer smile as he watched the way Keith's eyes crinkled at the corners doing so. That was definitely Lance's favourite part about his laughs.

 “You're an idiot.”

 “Don't self-project on me, mullet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short one, but it's more of a filler chapter so bare with me.
> 
> Also I've gotten my first piece of [fanart](https://mobile.twitter.com/hollis1378/status/1024385912917159936). Thank you to the amazing [Succubus1982](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Succubus1982/pseuds/Succubus1982) who's drawn it :)


	52. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, I can't believe this has reached 800 kudoses. Thank you to everyone who's left one, or even read this at all :)

 Keith and Lance had just settled in the lounge when Hunk and Pidge showed up. The two had taken a detour before joining them again. They set whatever it was they had brought back with them on the floor. Lance propped his elbow on the couch armrest, tilting his head to get a better view of the equipment.

 “Whatcha got there?”

 “Rover the III.” Pidge answered as the two sat down.

 “The third?” Lance repeated, “What happened to the second one?”

 “Nothing you can prove.”

 Lance raised an eyebrow, turning to Hunk for a real answer.

 “It kind of tried to, uh, kill us in our sleep—”

 “It was just a malfunction,” Pidge waved her hand dismissively.

 “—so we had to dispose of it,” Hunk finished in a grim tone.

 Lance looked at the small robot, which now he realised it looked like the original one, lying on the floor. It was connected to Pidge's laptop, it didn't look operational yet. But that look of horror was still sitting in Hunk's eyes. Let's just say he'd had his fare share of dealing with Pidge's little toys malfunctioning to know better.

 “Tried to kill you?” Lance slid to the other side of the couch. He pointed a finger at them, “Keep that thing _away_ from me.”

 Pidge spared him a look, glancing up from her laptop, “You should thank _that thing_. It gave you a reason to finally sit on Keith's lap, didn't it?”

 “Wha—” Coincidentally Keith had been sitting on the other side of the same couch as him, and in the process of putting more space between himself and that robot, Lance was now scootched next to him, that was not _his_ fault.

 “I am _not_ sitting on his lap. There's space between us, see?” He pointed to the clear quarter of an inch space between them.  

 Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose, narrowing her eyes at them. She shook her head after a few seconds, “Yeah ... I can't see something that doesn't exist, Lance.”

 “It does exist and I am not sitting on his lap,” and his face was not getting warmer, either. 

 “What's wrong with my lap?”

 Lance paused to turn his head to Keith.

  _“What?”_

 “What's wrong with my lap? You sound really offended by the idea of sitting on it.”

 This was _not_ an actual conversation going on. “Seriously?” Lance asked looking to him. 

  _Oh, hell no_.

 Lance knew that teasing smirk. Now was not the time for Keith to be a little to Lance. Did he not understand this would end at both of their expenses with Pidge wining?

 “Don't take her side, you're supposed to be on my side. It's us against them.”

 Keith didn't even get a chance to open his mouth.  
“Oh, there is an _us_ now?” Pidge wiggled her eyebrows.

 Lance sent a look to Keith— _see what you did?_ —before looping his arm around Keith's. “Yes, there's an us now. If you two can team up and form team _‘Punk’,”_ he air quoted, “then so can we. We're partners in crime now, right, partner?” he tried his best not to think about how nice the word felt leaving his mouth.

 He nudged Keith to get him to agree, “Right, Keith?”

 “Keith,” Lance repeated turning his head when Keith still didn't answer. _Oh._

 Lance had gotten a little into Keith's personal space in his attempt of looping his arm. Keith, face a few inches from his, was only staring at him with rounded eyes. Well, that was a nice shade of red covering his cheeks.

 Lance grinned, “Oh, I'm sorry. Is my face too beautiful for you to be able to function when it's too close?” he teased.

 Keith pouted. He turned his head the other way, resting his chin in the palm of his free hand.

  _Holy crow._ Lance leaned in closer, tilting his head, “Keith, that wasn't a no.”

 Keith glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. 

 “What was that about you not wanting to sit on his lap?”

 Lance's head snapped to Pidge quickly. She was looking at him with a satisfied grin.

 Technically, Lance never said he didn't want to sit on Keith's lap, he just said he _wasn't_ sitting on his lap. Get your facts straight, Pidge.

 Obviously Lance didn't say any of that out loud. He let go of Keith's arm, noticing how quick the other boy retrieved it. Keith crossed both arms over his chest.

 Lance glared at Pidge. She batted an eyelid, going back to her laptop. She and Hunk worked in silence for a while.

 “Aw, man, I wished we could give it a cool design too, something that would make it look as awesome as it's gonna be instead of this,” Hunk said after a while, tracing the pattern on the external shell of the robot. He pointed the ... screwdriver—cause Lance had no idea what that Altean tool was called—at Pidge before she could even open her mouth, “And no, yours don't count. You might be the greatest programmer in the universe”—Pidge scoffed—“sorry, in _all_ the universes, but you can't draw for shit.”

 Lance snorted, Keith next to him. Pidge turned to glare at them. Lance raised his brows, trying to send ‘ _Karma is a bitch_ ’ vibes to her. If the way she narrowed her eyes at him in return was any indication, she received the message. It only made Lance laugh more.

 Well, up until the thought hit him. He gasped, clapping his hands, “Keith can do it.”

 The pair sitting on the floor turned to him, before looking to Keith. “You can draw?”

 Keith sat straight, scratching his head. He gave them a small smile, “Uh, yeah? A little.”

 “A little?” Lance repeated, “He's being uncharacteristically modest, he's pretty great.”

 A line appeared between Keith's brows, “Okay, I know at this point I shouldn't be surprised, but _how_ do you even know about that in the first place?”

 Lance shrugged, “You drew in class all the time.” It was annoying. _Mr. Perfect-grades_ spent half of the class doodling in his sketchbook. Admittedly, his work looked pretty good, and yes, sometimes when a class was too boring, watching him draw made time pass faster for Lance. Just sometimes.

 Keith just stared at him for a few seconds before shaking his head. “Of course,” he whispered, huffing a small laugh.

 Lance wasn't sure what that was about or why it made his face feel warm. He turned towards Hunk and Pidge. “I'm telling you He can do it. He's pretty amazing at drawing.”

 They continued to eye Keith with doubtful eyes.

 “He _is,_ trust me. I mean he usually went with landscape and stuff,” which made sense since they both sat next to the window, “but I'm pretty sure he can draw anything. Remember that caricature thingy of Iverson I gave you that time? Yeah, he drew it.”

 Pidge's eyes went to Keith with new found interest.

 “What ... caricature thingy?” Keith asked.

 Hunk's frown was immediate to take over his face, “Back at Garrison, these two thought it would be funny to pull a prank on Iverson. They kind of hacked into the mainframe, so every time Iverson used his passing card, it would show this dumb picture instead of his original one. Of course _I_ ended up in detention with them for a month too, even though _I_ hadn't done anything.”

 He was still sore about that? “Dude, it _was_ funny. And you got detention because you hung out with the cool kids,” Lance raised his chin, placing his hands on the hem of his jacket, grinning.

 Hunk gave him a flat stare, “ _The cool kids_ kept getting me in trouble.”

 Lance opened his mouth to answer but he was beat into speaking by Pidge. “You drew this?” she turned her laptop towards Keith. She had kept it?

 Keith frowned, leaning forward to get a closer look at the image of a drawing on the screen, “I think so. But his eye ...”

 “Yeah, we had to change it to match his new state,” Lance pointed his own eye. He really tried not to grin harder.

 “O-kay,” Keith's frown deepened, “just one question.”  
He looked to Lance, _“Where_ did you get that from”—Lance had half a second to think ‘ _oh shit_ ’—“I'm pretty sure I threw that away.”

 “Uh ...” Lance made a nervous laugh. It was followed by silence. The other three staring at him.

 Pidge broke the silence with a snigger that made Lance gulp, “I'm gonna be honest with you, Lance. Every time we bring up Garrison, you sound more and more like stalker.”

 “ _Sta-Stalker_? _What_?!”

 How the hell had she come to that conclusion? 

 Pidge raised her eyebrow, “He just said he threw it away. Did you went through his garbage or something?”

 “ _No, I did not went through his garbage.”_ Lance's voice reached higher tones than he thought possible.

 Next to him Keith flinched, ears twitching.

 “Sorry,” he said, trying to lower his voice. It was not that easy when he just got accused of something like that. “I just saw him sketch it and he, like a classless prick, just crumpled it and threw it next to his chair, which by the way,” he looked to Keith had an annoyingly big smile on his face, “do you have _no_ manners what so ever?”

 “And I just couldn't let that kind of insult to Iverson's face go to waste,” Lance added before muttering _‘stalker’_ under his breath, and glaring at Pidge. Even as a joke it was _not_ funny.

 Pidge placed her thumbs under her chin, other fingers in a steeple, “So you just decided to pick someone's drawing, and keep it for ... however long it was between then and when we used it?”

 Okay, when she said it like that, it sounded weird. But It wasn't. “Like I said, I couldn't let an insult to Iverson's face go to waste.”

 Pidge hummed, “And how did you even know what he was drawing?”

  “How could I not? He sat in front of me.” Lance threw his hands in the air. What was this? An interrogation? Lance did not like the way they were putting him on spot, for some reason it made his face warm up. 

“You sat behind him.”

 Lance looked to Hunk, “What?”

 “He didn't sit in front of you. _You_ sat behind _him._ There's a difference.”

 “Uh, no? There is not?” Lance questioned. 

 “Oh, _yes._  Yes, there is,” Hunk held up his finger, grinning, “You _always_ sat behind him.”

  _“So?_ That was my seat.” Lance always sat there. Well, kind of. He'd changed it once. But even if he'd made a deal with that red hair girl to write her homework for her for a week so she would change seats with him, it had nothing to do with the fact that Keith had decided to suddenly change his seat in the middle of the year. _Nothing._

 “And what does that have to do with anything? You wanted someone to draw for you and I offered one. Take it or leave it. End of discussion.” 

 Lance crossed his arms over his chest, slumping further into his seat.

 “You know, you're blushing again.”

 Lance sent a glare at Keith from the corner of his eyes, “No, I'm not. Shut up.”

 “No, you really are”—Lance stilled when Keith's finger traced over his ear. He tried his best not to shiver under the light touch—“your ears are redder than our lion.”

 Well, _now_ they were. Damn those traitorous ears. And what the hell was Keith so smug about?

 “Shut up, Keith, or I swear to god—”

 “What?” Keith cut him off, placing a hand on the back rest behind him. He quirked his brow, leaning closer, “You'll what, Lance?”

 “I ...” Lance swallowed. What was that smirk? Was Lance imagining it, or was Keith looking at—

 “Are you guys serious? Right in front of my not-yet-born robot?”

 They both jumped at Pidge's voice.  
Keith was quick to back away, his face taking a shade.

 “What was that about blushing?” Lance whispered, quiet enough that he knew only Keith would hear it. The only reaction he showed was going darker in the face. Lance chuckled. How quick the tables had turned.

 Keith looked to Hunk and Pidge, “I'll try to come up with something. Just give me some time, I haven't drawn anything in a while.”

 “What, no pen and paper at the blade?” Lance asked.

 “No,” Keith shook his head, “didn't really have the time either.” He looked down, a crease between his brows.

 Lance let his shoulder graze Keith's. He smiled when Keith looked up. Keith returned it, albeit a smaller one.

 “So what colour are we picking for this rover?”

 They looked to Hunk. He seemed to be asking it from Pidge. He spoke up again at the same time Pidge did.

 “Please don't say green.”

 “Green.”

 Hunk sighed, “Every time.”

 Lance sent Pidge a quizzical glance, “I thought you hated green.”

 She raised both eyebrows, she gestured to her shirt, _“Yeah,_ that's why I'm always wearing green, because I hate the colour.”

 “I thought that's because it's your only outfit.”

 “No, it's not. You're not the only one who can buy clothes at the mall, Lance. I just like this one. Besides, I always wore green back at garrison too,” her lips quirked up at the corner, “really, is Keith the only thing you ever paid attention to?”

 Lance ignored her comment. He and Keith were rivals, even if it was only in his eyes, back then Lance hated him with the heat of a thousand suns, so of course he paid attention. There was no reason for the others to keep bringing it up. She was walking on the line of his nerves there. 

 “So your favourite colour is ... green?” Lance placed a hand under his chin.

 “Yeah?”

 “Huh, that's weird.”

 Pidge rolled his eyes, “Look, I thought we agreed not to bring up my previous hatred of out doors. And just because I used to despise trees, didn't mean I couldn't appreciate—”

 “That's not why it's weird,” Lance waved his hand, “It's just Hunk's favourite colour is yellow, right?” He continued after Hunk nodded. “And obviously mine is blue.” It was the colour of the ocean, the sky, the stars as he thought when he was a kid. It was the colour of his mom's eyes. It was the colour of everything he loved and adored growing up, of course it was his favourite. Every single shade of it.

 “You guys see where I'm going with this?”

 “I do,” Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, “And I'm asking you not to finish that thought. It's gonna be the most ridiculous you've ever said, and you say ridiculous things on an hourly basis.” She removed her hand from under her glasses pointing her finger at him threateningly. There was a clear _don't_ behind the action.

 Lance let a grin take over his face. “What if the lions chose us based on our favourite colors?”

 Keith and Hunk's amused laughs were not heard under Pidge's loud groan. “And he said it and it sounded just as ridiculous as I thought it would. Actually, no, it sounds _more_ ridiculous.”

 “But think about it. Have we ever seen Shiro wear anything but black? Clearly he has a soft spot for the colour.”

 “Oh my god,” Pidge covered her face with one hand, “This theory is even dumber than the time you suggested Allura picked our lions based on our clothes. Our fucking _clothes.”_

 “Hey, I still think that makes more sense than Allura just figuring out our entire personalities in like two point three seconds.”

 Pidge opened her mouth to answer only to close it. She frowned looking down. Lance bit back his laugh at Pidge's annoyed state. This was a sore subject for het. She absolutely hated that she had no idea how Allura just knew which lion to assign to each of them. And Lance was fully aware of her frustration at the subject. So once in a while he threw some idea, that clearly couldn't be true, at her. It annoyed her to no end. It was fun to watch. _Specially_ if she had decided to be an absolute little shit to him, like for example earlier.

 “Sorry, I don't think your theory can work.”

 Lance turned towards Keith, “What, you don't like red?”

 “No, I like red. It's just not my _favourite_ colour.”

 “Oh, What is your favourite colour?” Lance couldn't help asking. As far as Lance could remember, and he remembered quite far considering garrison, anything Keith had ever owned had been red. Well, red or black. Oh. It was probably black.

 “Uh ...”

 Lance raised an eyebrow, huffing a laugh at how hesitant Keith looked, “It's not that hard to pick a colour, mullet. All the five year olds out there doing it.”

 “Well, it’s,” Keith lowered his head, eyes looking to the side.

 “It's ... blue.”

 Lance's brain didn't have the time to even think of a reaction before a loud slam made them all look to Pidge. She put the closed laptop under her arm, standing up.

  _“This,”_ she pointed between Keith and Lance, “This ... unresolved sexual tension going on here, yeah, I can't deal with it anymore. I'm gonna go wait somewhere, _anywhere_ that I don't have to be subject to watching it.”

 She started walking out of the lounge, muttering not-so-quietly, “God, his favourite colour is blue now? Why don't you gays just get together and save us all time?”

 The remained three stared at the lounge's entrance for a few more seconds after she left. Seconds that Lance spent feeling his face warm up at her words.  
He turned to Keith again, “You can't pick blue. That's my colour.”

 “You can't pick an entire part of the colour spectrum for yourself.”

 “Yes, I _can._ I've loved blue since I can remember. It's _my_ colour, and you know it. You can't take my colour.” He was the blue paladin, for fuck's sake. Well, he was the red paladin now, but still blue was _his._

 Keith rolled his eyes, “Well, I've loved blue since I can remember too, and since I'm older, technically _you're_ taking my colour.”

 “Wha–that's not how it works.” Lance threw his hand in the air.

 Keith raised an eyebrow, “I used your own logic. You're just upset because you're losing.” 

 Lance pointed a finger at Keith's smirk, “Okay, a) I am _not_ losing. You did not choose your favourite colour when you were like one so that doesn't count, and b) it is not a competition.”

 “Well, that certainly is a first coming from you,” Keith huffed a small laugh, looking at him softly. No way Lance could not smile back.

 “Fine, blue. What kind of blue?”

 What? He was curious. It's not like he was fishing for anything. 

 “Light blue. I grew up in a desert and the sky,” Keith looked into nowhere, “It was my favourite part. It just was ... different.”

 “Oh,” Lance whispered.

 He had no idea why he felt deflated. Actually, who was he kidding? Yes, he did. But it was stupid and unfair. What did he expect Keith to say?

 “At least that's what it used to be.”

 Lance looked up at Keith's voice, “Oh?”

 “Yeah,” Keith smiled, resting his head to the backrest face towards Lance, “I ... I've given up. It's dark blue now. It's definitely dark blue now.” He whispered.

  _“Oh,”_ Lance's voice cracked. Amazing how Keith could decrease his entire vocabulary into a single word.

 But how could he think of anything else when Keith was looking at him like that? When Keith was looking into his very dark blue eyes like that. Like they were the reason ...  _“Oh.”_

  _Glad you like them_ , Lance thought. Or maybe he said it. He wasn't sure. His heart was beating a little too loud to notice anything else than Keith.

  _“Them?”_ Keith repeated, voice just barely leaving his mouth. His eyes were hazy as they lowered on Lance's face. There was no imagining where they fixated at this time.

 Lance licked his lips unconsciously.

 “Man, I should've left with Pidge.”

  _Hunk._

 Lance froze. His eyes raised to Keith's again, looking into those rounded ones for less than a second. They both jumped back, looking to the other side. Lance could physically feel the blood rushing to his ears.

 “Yup, I'm still here,” Hunk said, “I felt like I should remind you since you clearly seemed to have forgotten.” He shook his head, going back to working on the chip in his hand.

 “Oh.” The word escaped Lance. It was not his fault. Keith just had a way of making him forget about the rest of the world.

 A small chuckle came from next to him. _“‘Oh’_ again? Really, Lance? What, did the cat eat your tongue?”

 Lance looked to Keith. For someone who's face looked redder than should be possible, Keith sure seemed amused. No seriously, if Lance's face anywhere near as red as his was ... well, no wonder Hunk was smirking like _that._

 “Yeah, I _wished_ the cat would eat my tongue.” Lance mumbled under his breath, quiet enough that Hunk wouldn't hear it.

 Keith's expression turned confused, “What?”

 Lance sighed, “Nevermind.” That settled it, Keith was the most oblivious moron ever. They were literally about to ... and he still couldn't get what Lance meant. _Stupid Keith-Mc-Kitten-Kogane._

 

  “By the way,” Hunk looked at him after a few minutes, “I forget to tell you earlier. The way you put together all that stuff about Sendak? That was pretty smart,” he smiled adding, “and kind of awesome.”

 Lance felt something warm wobbling inside him. He returned the smile, “Thanks, man.”

 Hunk nodded.

 “Yeah, it was pretty awesome, sharpshooter,” Keith said, looking at him with ... awe? Fondness? Admiration? Lance couldn't even decide which one it was. Maybe all of them? Even one of them would've been more than Lance could handle. Or perhaps it was the way Keith pronounced the nickname. But it was definitely more than Lance could handle. An incoherent _oh_ escaped him.

 Keith snorted.

 “Shut up.” Lance said feeling his face take colour. How many times was it healthy to blush in a single day? It felt like he had already passed the limit.

 Keith's laugh went on for a little more before his hand on the couch grazed the side of Lance's. “Hey, It really was pretty awesome, and I _am_ proud of you.” He spoke softly.

 “You already said that, Keith,” Lance said, keeping his voice just as hushed. Not like he had the ability to speak any louder than that.

 “Thought I should remind you, in case _anybody's,”_ Keith's jaw tightened for a second, “reaction made you think otherwise.”

 “Nah, I'm tougher than that,” Lance gave him a smile, reassuring. It faltered by the look in Keith's eyes. 

 “Yeah, you _are_.”

 “Sto-stop giving me compliments.” Lance barely choked the words out. Those violet gem stones needed to stop looking at him like that or Lance was gonna forget how to breathe.

 “Why?”

  _Because you're taking away the last of the air, and I'm already drowning._

 Hunk clearing his throat gave him an out to not knowing what to say.

 “Guys, seriously?” Hunk asked, “I mean I'm trying my best not to feel like a third wheel here, but you two are not helping with all the whispering.”

 “Well that's how I feel every time I hang out with you and Pidge,” Lance shrugged, “so, you know, _suffer bitch.”_

 “Yeah, no,” Hunk shook his head, “No. Don't ever compare yourself and Keith to me and Pidge. _Ever,”_ he emphasized. Lance decided against arguing.

 They stayed quiet watching Hunk work on the robot. And if Lance and Keith's hands were brushing against each other where they lay on the space between them on the couch the entire time, well, neither of they moved their hands away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Mood board for this chapter:**
> 
> **Pidge:** has no toleration left for the the pining space gays
> 
>  **Lance:** _‘Oh’_ / tfw you can't stop rambling about your ~~crush~~ rival and people look at you weirdly
> 
>  **Hunk:** cockblock / ratting out your friend like there ain't no tomorrow 
> 
>  **Keith:** when you realise your future boyfriend has been stalking you since you both were like 14 and it makes you bold
> 
> * * *
> 
>  I absolutely love that Keith kinda canonically draws. It makes him more dorky :)
> 
> I might've gone a bit out of character to make this chapter as floofy as possible. I just felt like y'all needed a boost before we dive back into the mess. Also the hype for season 7 is stressing me out—netflix really out there fucking(forgive the language) with us all— so you know, two birds, one stone.


End file.
